


You're a Mage. He's a... Well, He's Punny. If Not Much Else.

by purpleSquiggles



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Ask me and I'll explain what each term means, Barely organized chaos, Chara is not a baddie, Character death is a thing, Culture Shock, F/F, F/M, Frisk and Chara are twins, Frisk prefers sign language, Frisk still prefers gender neutral pronouns, Genderfluid Frisk, Innumerable types of magic, Magic folk, Magic folk other than monsters exist outside of the barrier, Male Chara, Many words and terms I made up for this story, No Smut, Reader Is Not Chara, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader can do magic (really well too), Reader is basically a OC?, Reader is named and described, Slow Burn, Sorry Not Sorry, Space-time magic, There are heaps of other 'mages' besides reader, This is getting a little crazy..., mmmmmagic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-09-24 20:35:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 77,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9785042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpleSquiggles/pseuds/purpleSquiggles
Summary: Your name is Áine. 'Mage' in human myth, now known as a vocchron. These days, magic folk are referred to generally as canorals—it doesn't matter if you are a troll, mountain spirit, or dragon, all understand that physical appearance doesn't mean magic folk aren't connected to each other.Humans haven't had any real contact with canorals besides what material they have for ghost stories, which still isn't even hardly ever accurate.The monsters under the mountain were erased from the memory of all, including those who helped the monsters make the barrier. Any who are still alive from that time have convoluted memories of the event, all of which have been manipulated. Not even the monsters truly remember why they were trapped.Well, one day it all blows up when the barrier opens. Humans eventually become aware of monsters and canorals alike. The few of those who remain from the creation of the barrier cannot clearly remember why it was put up in the first place, nor what happened. Hopefully that will come with time.Oh, but you were there alright. And you've got some massive headaches, along with a skeleton who has a befuddling curiosity about you.(Summaries are difficult, sheesh. Haha)





	1. I was just doing my job when...

**Author's Note:**

> So this vague idea of a backstory has been bouncing around in my mind for a while, but I finally made some time to attempt to put it together and build forwards from it? There are a lot of new words and terms that I created for the idea that those with magic or are of magical properties (canorals) use among themselves because they have been separated from humans in general for centuries. Since I know what they mean, there is a likely chance that I'll forget to explain through context what a word or phrase means. Please don't hold it against me, just shoot me a comment so I can help you out.
> 
> Also, this is the first fanfiction for anything that I've written in years, so bear with me. I'm sure to be a little rusty for a while here.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> ~pS
> 
> EDIT:  
> Please note: I write this in my spare time and I don't usually have much of it. Updates are likely to be on the irregular side (although I will aim for one chapter a week) and there will be many a chapter that has not been proofread. Just let me know if what's written doesn't make any sense and I'll actually go through any sections that you find disorienting. Thank you!

 Your job isn’t actually all that bad. Quite the opposite really; you have the most fun and likely more so than any other person could have in an occupation (although you may be a little bit prejudiced). It’s just when the magic and ‘mythical’ creatures don’t want to work with you that your life starts to go down hill. Sure it’s just a temporary and usually fleeting metaphorical down hill, but you would much rather not have to use your magic in such a frantically violent manner. 

 Presently, you’re a bit tied up trying to relocate a very angry, humanoid, water spirit clan whose current home is being steadily polluted by humans participating in deforestation in the Philippines. Erosion and other pollution is making the common dwelling places for most of the magic-and-otherwise population here… inhospitable to put it nicely. It infuriates you, but you can at least help these poor creatures if nothing else. Still, the problem here with this particular spirit tribe is that they all have bad mood swings when they don’t eat and breathe well.

 So, to be mild, they are all savagely enraged.

 And you get to deal with it.

 … It could be worse. Right?

 Jumping out of your thoughts, you narrowly dodge a whipping tendrel of water rushing directly towards your eyes. Clever idea to cripple you through your eyes. Even if only temporarily. Still rude though.

 “Oi! I saw that!” You glare at the small group, but mostly at the tribe leader. Because he attacked you. Everyone else is just staring, threateningly angry-like. “Honestly, I’m not trying to hurt you here!”

 “Why should we consider you?” The gurgled response is not really what you would call amiable. Neither is it in any human known language. You’ve had to study almost a thousand different language dialects (including dead and forgotten ones) in order to be able to work with as many known magical identities possible. Not that it was required to know that many languages to be a Biomniso. Although, you would still be forever grateful for your knack of picking up and memorising your interests at absurdly rapid rates. Even after all of these years.

 The scathing and snobbish leader bubbles. “For all we know, you're just trying to take our dwellings in order to glean our sacred and secret traditions and more for your stupid people to study.” 

You freeze in that moment, mind trying to comprehend the brazen insult they just threw at you. ”Excuse me?” You ask softly, voice wavering slightly.

The tribe’s leader scoffs, taking your soft voice for fear in being caught. “You heard me. It's so obvious, that we already know. That is all you lot ever want. Something that is. Not. _Yours_.”

 That's when you snap. Your body loses the tenseness you held for physically dodging attacks. Running your fingers through your hair, eyes closed, you sigh. “You really are a piece of work when you're angry and irrational.” The energy around you starts to shift and build, even standing on the shore as you are, vibrations so strong begin to cause ripples in the water and shake leaves on nearby trees from the concentrated magical aura you created around yourself. “I only want to help you. You are going to become entirely corrupted or die if you don't accept my help.” Your voice rumbles like thunder, causing small waves to build and crash into the clan in the middle of the body of water. ”Don't compare us vacchon to humans who never try to help or truly understand. And I don't like how you're making me resort to more violent measures here either.”

 The leader takes a surprised half step back, before lashing out again, water droplets shooting towards you like bullets. Furious faces and attacks come to a screeching halt as you lift a single hand and send a pulse out, effectively freezing the bullets and causing the expressions of the water spirits to turn to shock. “How...?”

 You take a deep breath. Then another. Repeating the steady sequence, effectively calming yourself, and shrug with a nonchalant grin once you feel more yourself again. “Magic.”

 The water spirit gives you the best 'I'm so done with your crap' look you think you've ever been given. That or you're just used to everyone you know giving you that look and his is just a fresher expression. Still, clearly more than finished dealing with anymore of your crazy antics, he begins to say something—what you're sure is going to be a complaint. And more likely, a complaint about your lack of explanation towards your magic. But you get the pleasure of watching the words die in his mouth when you tenderly begin to purify the water projectiles.

 Carefully giving the purified water back to the flabbergasted leader—yes without you quickly purify the rest of the lake. _Why didn't I just do this before? It would've saved so much time._

 “How about we start over?” you begin anyways with a calm smile. “Hello! My name is Áine. I am a canoral like you, classified as a 'Mage' by human standards. Or I would be if they even remembered we exist anymore.” You chuckle. “I specialize as a Biomniso and SpaceAuthor. Your dwelling place has been acknowledged as a location being under threat to creatures both magical and otherwise. If you would allow it, I will do my best to assist your clan to safety.” You hold your hand out calmly and wait for their response.

 The clan—looking much less tense and enraged since having their lake purified—turns to their leader expectantly while he mulls over the request. After only a moment, he glides over to you and, stepping onto the shore with you, gently takes your hand. “Thank you Áise for your kindness and patience. We would be more than happy to follow you to safety.” His voice is a deep and reverberating cave waterfall of a sound. You decide that you like him a lot more when he's not angry. Even if he got your name wrong. It's not that big of a deal anyways. Your name is a little unusual here and in this tongue anyways. But he's not angry anymore. That's a step in the right direction.

 Realizing this (with no small amount of glee) your smile widens and you nod. “I am more than happy to be of service. Unfortunately,” your smile turns to a slight frown. You very much and incredibly dislike bringing nice people bad news, but there's nothing you can do to change the fact that bad news is bad news right now. ”Time is of the essence. If you and your tribe could pack your possessions quickly that would be optimal. Humans will be able to enter this area once more in approximately two hours. If there is anything you need assistance with, please do not hesitate to inform me. I am capable of working efficiently under water. Aside from just that, I will do the best I can to make this as easy as possible.”

 With a slight nod, the spirits get to work. It takes less time than you had expected—clocked with 26 remaining minutes before your isolated space enclosure drops and humans start making their way over—so you begin to draw up the Arch for the passage of the water spirits and their things. It used to be tedious and tiring, drawing it through the air, but after doing it for many years now, and recently more and more frequently, you find it as simple as breathing. Although the fact that you've had to evacuate so many canorals recently is frustrating. _I shouldn't be so used to drawing up these diagrams._ You sigh softly as you finish the drawing, noting the approaching presence of this water clan's leader.

 “Hello again. Is there something else that I can help help you and your people with?” You ask softly with a respectful nod.

 With a slight shake of his head he holds up a pacifying hand. “No, I simply wished to speak with you and apologize. I do not think I introduced myself either. I am Amias, and I wish to apologize for my unruly and disrespectful actions earlier. As I am sure you know, when our river is dirtied, well, we do become like it too. I wish I could have made a better first impression on you, if only for the sake of your good favour towards my tribe.”

 You blink, forest-green eyes framed boldly by strawberry blonde eyelashes analyzing the spirit in front of you in confusion. “Uhm.” _Why is he…?_ You take a quick moment to question. “Oh!” You’re suddenly struck with the realization that Amias, the proud and (usually) gentle tribe’s leader is asking that you take out any anger that you may have for he and his people out on him solely. As a person, a physical representative, and as a remorseful man attempting to be accountable for his unfavourable actions. _Man, we can’t have this. I’m not even angry here. Heheh, culture shock anyone?_ You clear your throat, giving him your usual, friendly, lopsided smile. “Hey Amias, do you remember when I asked if we could start over and I properly introduced myself?” He nods slowly, obviously a little unnerved and not entirely understanding where you’re going with this. “Well I did mean that. Completely so.”

 Your grin widens as you watch his face furrows in confusion for a moment longer, then swiftly clears up—in a rather literal sense too. Algae sprouts when troubled or confused huh? Still, he looks at you in astonishment, totally caught off guard. “I forgave you before you even started fighting with me. You were trying to protect your people and it was obvious how bad your lake had been polluted.” He opens his mouth to say something but you cut him off by holding up a single had insisting he wait, cheekily mimicking how he had earlier to you before being serious again. “Frankly, I would like to apologize for getting here so late and allowing you all to live in such difficult and uncomfortable circumstances. If anyone fell ill because of it I would be more than happy to heal all who are open to my assistance in such endeavours.”

 Amias stares at you for a moment longer before regaining his composure and blushing a little. At least, you’re fairly certain that his face turning a more fluorescent shade of blue blushing. It uncannily reminds you of bioluminescent plants you find in the water here and there, since it is actually creating a soft light. 

 Man, magic is not new to you by any means, but it never loses it’s ability to make you geek out. You kinda wish you could have adorably awesome physical traits like that. Now that you think about it though, his face while fighting was a brighter orange version of how he looks now. Just a lot angrier. Yeah. You like this version of Amias much more.

 “-And I’m sure that those who have become sickly would be very grateful and open to your healing.” He concludes with a soft and gentle finality. Oh shoot you spaced out again.

“Sorry, but could you run that first part by me again? I missed it I think.” You grimace apologetically.

 He chuckles—well, you translate it to the equivalent of chuckling, but it sounds more like a gurgling brook—and begins again. “Of course.” Nodding graciously he begins again as you listen intently. “I wished to say thank you for your astounding kindness and wisdom. There are not many powerful vicchrones out there that we have come in contact with, and we had no idea what to expect but the worst. Representing my people and myself, I would like to thank you again for offering your help. It is a comfort to me how willing you are to work at keeping everyone's spirits up. And I'm sure that those who have become sickly would be very grateful and open to your healing.” He smiles kindly as he finishes and you send him a quirky grin back.

 "Of course! I chose this kind of job for a reason. I love being able to learn and help people." You notice that the rest of the water tribe has surfaced and are making their way over. You wave at them and snap your fingers, bringing the Arch to life, opening the rift you intended. "If you don't mind, I would like to let your tribe know where we are going?" You poise the question to Amias, waiting politely with you ever present smile.

 He nods. "It would be my pleasure."

 "Thank you." You turn to the waiting group, waving them over. "Hello everyone! Come on over. This is a spatial jump technique called the Arch which, unsurprisingly, leads to a safe place in StoneArch. This one specifically will take us to a pocket dimension I made of majority water surface. There are places where you can exit your new dwelling into the main city and travel to other pockets from there. I will be passing through here after you to close up, but it is totally safe so don't worry. When you get through, feel free to explore and start getting yourself settled—the whole place is yours. You can ask me any questions you like after I close up, and any alterations that you might like I would be more than happy to take care of. Any who are sick and wish to be healed can come to me before passing through and I'll heal you up quickly." You finish with a chipper thumbs up. "We have 20 minutes before the isolation space enclosure breaks down so let's make sure we all get through safely before hand. Let's get going!" You clap your hands cheerily, then pause. "Oh and if anyone needs help with heavy lifting or the likes, I can enchant whatever it is to get it through."

 The small crowd moves quickly and intermingling in a fashion that you would consider irregular and chaotic, but is not so for them. _I'll just chalk that up to water spirits living in, well, water and water currents._ You chuckle to yourself and begin helping those who are in need of healing. Using your healing magic you rather rapidly— _heh heh, rapidly. Because water rapids... Oh just another pun-point for me_ —any ailments are banished from each spirit and they thank you profusely. You just smile and encourage them on through the Arch.

 With five minutes left on your barrier, something shifts. It's subtle and only you seem to notice, but it feels foreboding. Like the calm before the storm.

 You need to close the Arch. Before anything bad happens.

 You stand and usher the last of the water spirits and their last few belongings through and tell them not to come back over under any circumstances as well as to inform Amias. After you finish that, you quickly go around erasing the barrier's activation symbol points and removing evidence of an entire people' foot tracks from the water to land. Through your endeavours, you have felt the energetic tremble three more times; each vibration more jolting than the last. You walk over to the Arch, almost reaching it when you notice a crack cutting in from the right. A very black and almost oozing crack. It almost feels malicious- but not quite. Like it's confused in of itself. But it definitely feels like it's on the edge of exploding.

_That's bad. Very, very bad._

 Thinking on your toes, you create two pieces of paper, scribble a quick note on each, throw one through the Arch at Amias and watch him catch it. You hope it explains well enough what the problem is so that he understands and can help keep his tribe calm and safe while you're not there.

 As for the other note, you simply stick your hand out, creating a ripple in the air, and the other note to one of your Biomniso friends, explaining the unstable outside connection, the funny influxes of magical energy you've got a bad feeling about, and how you need her to go take care of them. Since, you know, you can't and it's unsafe to send a person through an unstable Arch. You trust Lillie, and if she needs Emm's help she'll make sure it happens.

 As you finish that, you look up and see Amias give you a swift and serious nod. You're relieved he understands and isn't upset about it. You send him a thumbs up and wave to the group with a smile. Amias turns his back to you to address his tribe and you take that as your cue to take down the Arch. You step forwards to cut the symbols keeping the Arch up, when the biggest and most dangerous feeling magic tremor yet explodes all around you.

 It's just enough to make you stumble and watch your hand brush into the crack, all in slow motion.

 Everything goes black.


	2. Headaches and Shenanigans. Just... Man Almighty This Could Be Much Better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so I was not expecting to get 100 hits, 20 kudos, and 6 bookmarks in less than 24 hours! Thank you guys. So. Freaking. Much. You all made my day. (//^u^//)
> 
> Because of those factors, I was motivated to finish the last part of chapter 2. You all are the best.
> 
> Love you all, I hope you enjoy it.  
> ~pS

_** Everything goes black. ** _

 

 _Well, it isn't_ really _black._

You put a hold on those thoughts when you hear a bunch of whispering voices all around you, not quite echoing, but all saying something you can’t quite make out. Confused, you listen harder, ignoring everything else.

 _“Leave. Be quick.”_ One with the voice like a will-o-wisp calls.

 _“Escape, they need you.”_ Another popping voice commands.

 _“Your presence is not needed here. Go!”_ A light floaty voice insists.

 _“TIM-m-m-m-E  IS   OF   THE   ES-s-s-s-SENCE   ÁI-i-i-i-RE.   THEY   NEE-e-e-D   YOUR-r-r-r   HELP-p-p   ONCE   MO-o-o-RE.”_ A sad, glitchy, and stuttering voice pierces your mind almost painfully. The most outstanding difference with this voice to the others though, is that it actually seems familiar.  It’s like you can almost see funnily familiar words that you've translated from symbols and signs while this one talks.

Your head hurts thinking about it.

You decide to think about something else.

_Okay, I’m about 12,000% sure that this is not actually black. What in Stonehenge is going on h-?_

You're erratically shoved out of whatever the heck _that_ was—although, you don’t feel as though it were unkindly but more of as gently as possible—and into your room, in your personal house outside of StoneArch. It’s almost three hours since you were helping the water tribe. That is most definitely _not_ normal.

"Okay, what on earth was that-?" You're cut off once again as a folded paper message, thicker and not unlike the one you sent earlier, falls into one of your rather unattractively outstretched hands. "Oh." Your agitatedly, but admittedly funny ‘I’m angrily confused—what just happened’ face starts relax as you open the message and decide to very actively ignore the fact that all of what just happened before is incredibly bizarre.

Looking in at the contents, you find that a vibrant indigo amulet has been placed within the originally folded paper and under that is a report sheet and beneath that is the message which will hopefully explain what the report and uncomfortably familiar amulet are all about.

 

‘Áine, I know you sent me that message earlier warning and explaining why you couldn't keep helping that particular water tribe, and I would have loved to go and help them in your place. But I can't. Those tremors you said you were feeling? Well I can tell you that they are very much real, but they seem to be effecting you, Jack, and Emm the most out of everyone I have encountered so far. I sent a different crew over in my place to look after your water tribe. They've got the right credentials and it'll be good for some of our newbies to get some solo experience now. Considering how chill Amias sounds, they should be fine.

But besides that! When these tremors started happening (Jake and Emm noticed them even before I did), Jack started getting these random amulets with every tremor, each infused with specific individual's magic like they were just packages messages. Really old and dusty packages. He got eight of them in total. One included his own magic, another had Emm’s, and the one I sent you has yours. He told me that he doesn't remember making amulets like these before, nor having them filled with anyone's magic; but he can say with conviction that they are of his own making and design. Most of this information was hard to get out of him since he suddenly got super distracted about everything as soon as he tried talking about it. I mean, Jack. Distracted while trying to solve a mystery! I'm not sure if I should be blaming the tremors, the amulets, a variable we aren't aware of yet, or all of the above. Somehow I feel as though it’s all linked, but I am no exception to this link. Even without an fancy magic necklace. Make sure you don’t leave me out of whatever this is, alright?

Back to the topic at hand though, the problem is that there's more to this still. We took a look at the eight amulets (one of which carried a strange collaboration of magical signatures, leaving it pure white. That's our hypothesis for why it's white though. Yet even more curious about the amulets is that each is a different colour) and all of them contain massive amounts of energy. EXTRAORDINARILY ANCIENT magical energy that is still yours.

Apparently you, Jack, AND Emm are a lot older than we all thought? That or you were involved in a heap of shady magic when you were younger? Lack of memories on this and reactions like this makes it all a bit suspicious, but maybe you can remember something? (We're hoping you can anyways.)

Since I mentioned Emm a lot too, these reports are definitely written, majority-wise, in Emm's handwriting and are mainly about the power levels that each amulet contains and names of who helped. She got these records at the same time and in the same order that Jack did too. It’s so strange, but it gives us some good minds to solve the reasons for these strange peculiarities I guess.

[I sent you yours in this little pack of strange goodies so you don't need to take forever analysing your own.]

But Emm doesn't remember writing or storing any of this either! Still, just like Jack, she knows that she wrote it. All besides one anyways. But she got tongue tied and confused whenever she tried to talk more about it all. The Emm we know never gets tongue tied!

Plus, there's some stuff coded in another language in each of them that looks like you might've written it. And one of the reports is entirely in that coded language—all written by you it looks like. So maybe you can read it? We're hoping, but we're still not sure; considering how the other two are reacting still anyways.

We made sure to give the other amulets who still had living owners to said personages, and it turns out that they’re all vicchrones. There’s something there to it, and I will find it out eventually. I hope it’s fun.

Either way, something is going on here and the council (that is still mad at you for ignoring their requests for years on end, you know, in case your forgot) is requesting your presence immediately in the Gathering that they just announced. Full regalia and all. This isn't something you can ignore, Áine. Please show up and at least _try_ to be civil. Something is clearly happening, but I’m sure no one knows what’s happening—or will have an idea of what might be happening—more than you. Jack, Emm, and I will meet you there.

Please be quick.

And YES. You DO in fact have to wear the formal attire. I will drag you back to your house by the ear to redress you myself if you show up in anything else.

With love,

Lillie.'

 

You let out a low whistle. "Today is just getting crazier and crazier." With another glance over the letter, you snicker at Lillie's comment about the whole being ‘civil’ with the council, as well as how she’ll drag you back and make you change—a fact you don’t doubt her even a half second for—then get up to shower and change into your 'formal vicchron attire'. Man, you never even realised you had sat down when you started reading. The news was rather shocking though.

… Probably?

You realise that this scenario is actually _not_ shocking or startling you as much as it probably should. It’s almost like you’re expecting it, in some subconscious way.

… _That_ fact is what is ever so slightly worrying you right now.

As you step into the quickly warming water from the shower head and feel the temperature change as it trickles down your back, you think over the sudden request from the council. They've been trying to get you into one of their empty seats for at least a century now, but you never wanted it. Being in the council always sounded boring, not to mention how it would tie you down. Never being able to go out for long periods of time and help people through face to face interaction would drive you crazy! It's not like they could force you in anyways. You knew that with your magic abilities, the council would try to get ahold of you one way or another. You knew it from the time you were a child of only fifty years—hardly more than an infant in comparison to now. Not that those on the council are inherently bad people! They just annoy you and you can’t always make sense of their decisions.

When you realised this as a kid in your youngest learning years, where it was normal for excessive magic growth spurts to occur often and easily (if you knew what you were doing), you trained to be strong enough to be entirely independent of the council. Sort of like a wayward rebel now that you think of it. You snort with laughter as you step out of the shower and wrap a towel around yourself. You have always been spunky, but the truth of the matter is that when you were under 150 years old, you were almost entirely independant and listened to near no one. Always being yourself, never taking crap from anyone and being as quick witted as you could.

But now that same council you’ve been jumping around and avoiding to cut out actual conflict, wants you to appear before them like it’s some case of emergency. You frown. This isn't like their usual behaviour. They know that they can't command you or force you to do anything. You're too powerful for them to handle, even with their full numbers and power.

You’re guessing here that either you’re going to be in severe trouble for something, or they desperately need your help. Logically, the best way to get your attention is through your friends (which they did contact you through), pique your interest in something (they’re giving you a mysterious situation and leaving it at a cliffhanger, also through your friends), and make you worry that they might do something involving those you care about while you’re not there to protect them from any danger that they might face (not danger from the council per say, just what they might make your loved ones do for whatever ill prepared and hastily decided reasons). You know that your best friends are strong enough to handle themselves if the council sends them off to do some dangerous mission, but you like to know that they’ll be safe no matter what anyways.

Basically, they did a stupidly good job of making you care enough to show up semi quickly.

But still not enough to make you want to be on time.

Although aside from what the council did, the fact that you have a very large sneaking suspicion you’ve forgotten something you desperately never wanted to forget, is driving you to not want to dawdle too much. Plus, anything to get you away from thinking about where you just were is mostly welcome at this point.

Well, the thought you’ve forgotten something you treasured incredibly makes you frown.

...Aaaand simultaneously makes you hold your head as a splitting ache rips through your mind.

“Oww! Stop it!” You groan in pain, a tear welling in your eye from the sudden stabbing feeling. “What even the heck. Where did this come from-” You freeze in the haze of pain, remembering the funny ways that Emm and Jack started reacting when they thought about the amulets and reports too hard. “Damn. And here I was hoping I would be the only one immune so I could tease the others.” You mutter and chuckle wearily with more effort than it should ever take to make such a half laugh. “This is stupid.” You say irritably to no one in particular. With a sigh you grab your robes and really start getting yourself together. Why did they need you in formal wear so badly anyways?

Vicchrones don’t usually have too much reason to wear these ‘fancy’ outfits besides the fact that they are incredibly comfy, easy to move _and_ perform magic in. But they aren’t comfy in the ‘oh yeah I can deal with wearing this outfit for day clothes out in public.’ No, they are full out ‘whoa dang these are comfier than my actual pajamas but it’s socially acceptable to wear them in public—this is heaven and where have these been all my life’ kind of addicting comfort level.

You don’t wear them because you have to be out in the human-scape level of reality the majority of the time. That, and you like to mess with the council by wearing whatever human trends are big while in StoneArch because it’s like rubbing it in their face that you quote ‘can’t be tamed’ or something like that. The looks they give you are great. Always totally worth it.

But now you have to- erm, get to. Sorry Lillie. You _get to_ wear your comfy clothes to some crazy higher up meeting about what you’re sure is going to be the council pretending they’ve got everything under control for the general canoral public, while they are probably freaking out about some end of the world nonsense again.

Bleh. This is almost exactly why you’ve avoided these kids who think they’re old enough to take on the world. They’re still greenies. And they jump sky high when someone crashes cymbals together from behind.

Despite that fact, you should still probably look over the report sheet that you apparently helped write so you have some context in the upcoming conversations and maybe generate a few ideas of what’s actually going down. There’s a constant magical vibration in the air around you on any regular day, but this time there’s more than just you in it. Running in blind will do you no good.

You situate yourself nicely in your formal wear finally, it’s really been a while too long since you’ve worn this stuff, and turn look at yourself appreciatively in the mirror. You see your reflection staring back at you and you take a moment to really admire yourself. Since you haven’t really been home for a couple of months—and for no longer than to shower, restock on food, dump dirty laundry and grab more clothes—you have changed a bit here and there. You notice that your usually olive-white skin has darkened to look almost like honeyed bronze. Your ever long and woefully straight, strawberry-blonde, hair has highlighted blonde streaks running down from roots to ends. Your figure has become a more toned and subtly strong while still maintaining your shapely curves. You haven’t grown, which doesn’t surprise you in the least. You like your 5’10’’ height. Not too tall, but not short either. Your eyes remain their ever green and expressive nature, but you cringe when you notice your now untidy and thick eyebrows. That’s not okay. You look like a wild woman with those bushy forests above your eyes.

You quickly grab your tweezers and clear out the unwanted extra eyebrow mass until you’re back to your regular bold and striking eyebrows. Never being one to hide in a crowd, you decide that since you’re already late it’ll be fine to take some time to use the barest of makeup for mascara, subtle eyeshadow, and a bit of pawpaw ointment you prefer over lipgloss. This change from your regular casual clothes to high-class and powerfully confident always gives you the best double takes and looks of shock you’ve ever seen. Therefore the human race, you have concluded, is not entirely bad if they can give you tools to intimidate the council through appearance alone. Especially since it’s so hilarious. _Although_ , you put on and tip your deep purple, gold, and dark blue “witches’” hat—one of your own additions to the ‘fancy’ outfit which you pull off quite well—back a little bit where it rests better on the crown of your head with and grin. _Sometimes I question how those humans come up with such funny names for us like Mage and warlock and whatever else. Truly creative, but sometimes I can use their styles and cluelessness to my advantage._

Grinning now with a rebellious fire in your eyes, you look to check that your clothes still fit as you like them to. You tug at the deep violet leggings, relieved that they aren’t too small for your legs now that you’ve added more muscle. Your going barefoot is of no concern since many do in StoneArch so you move on from there, remembering that you made it a point to clip your toenails before you got in the shower.

Now for the top half of the outfit.

It used to be a long dress with a large hood attached to the back, as these outfits are traditionally for vicchromes who identify as women. But you found that style stiff and limiting, while the men’s shorter version of the dress was just annoying to look at. So you took your dress, cut it to your mid calf, then sliced the sides up to your waist so you can actually take decent sized steps. You also had thought it looked cooler to narrow the amount of fabric at the bottom and gradually let more remain as you got back to the initial split you made. You still left the hood though. Hoods can come in handy if you know how to actually wear them.

Personally, you love your purple and gold embroidered robes. They are the coolest. And many have gone out of their way to tell you so. You’re pretty sure that last time you wore these, you started a massive trend that drove the council up the wall.

Wow, you should wear these more often if you can cause as much havoc as wearing your human styled clothes.

“Áine!” A mildly frustrated, yet mostly amused voice shouts from your front room. Oh so they sent Jack to fetch you huh? “Áine I know you’re in here. You’d better be decent because I’m taking you to the Gathering whether you’re adequately dressed or not!” He’s made his way to your room’s door.

His comment makes you snort. He has done the likes before. You were in your sports bra and tight three-quarters pants when he dragged you to the meeting, never batting an eye. You didn’t really care, and neither did your other friends who thought it was hilarious, but the council was horrified at your lack of respect for their precious and traditional Gatherings.

“Oh yeah I’m buck naked here Jack.” You tease sarcastically as you open the door and snag the letter with it’s contents, your small sapphire earring studs that make your eyes brighter, and your gold jingly anklet. “But honor be shamed I’ll make a fool of those councilors yet!”

Jack, the adorably tall softie, laughs his ever boisterous and full laugh, leaning on the wall for support. “Oh if you did that they would actually go into a full panic.” He snorts. “Although, they do that themselves pretty well.”

“True that.” You share a quirky smirk with him and notice that he’s actually tamed his normally bedhead-style addicted black hair into a fun windswept look. He’s wearing his regular leggings, but apparently chose to wear a formal tuck in shirt and the kilt you gave him years ago. You pause as you finish putting your earrings in and cover your mouth as you laugh so hard your eyes tear up. “Jake.” You force yourself to sound serious. “You didn’t.”

His grin widens gleefully. “I did.”

You giggle again then gesture to yourself. “Man, now I just feel overdressed for the occasion.”

“You? Overdressed? Why I never!” He laughs with you a while as you elbow him playfully and enchant on the anklet, followed by the indigo amulet that surprisingly goes well with your outfit and earrings.There’s something strange about that, but you opt to ignore the weird things that could potentially make your head hurt again  for as long as you can. “But I must admit A,” Jack nods at you with the kind of respect that only a close friend can give. “You do clean up nice.”

You smile appreciatively up at him. “Thanks Jack. You do too.” You notice a amulet matching yours in design, only his is a bright burning orange. “...Nice amulet.”

He’d clearly noticed when you put yours on and he nods sheepishly. “Yeah, you too.” His ever straight and suave posture—not unlike yours when you’re not messing with the council—falters slightly. “Uhm… You wouldn’t, you know, have any idea of what’s going on here? Reasons why we can’t remember stuff and it’s like we aren’t allowed to or something?” His voice is quieter than usual and rather timidly melancholy.

You frown ever so slightly. Although you are only older than him by a century and a half, you still feel a need to make sure that he knows everything will be fine, even if you’re pretty sure there is a higher chance that it won’t.

But he’s not that small anymore.

So you sigh, and rub your temple as a faded throb of pain echos through your mind again. “No, I don’t know much. But then again, I haven’t sat down to read anything more than the letter that Lils sent me. I’m already late though, so I think it’s unlikely that they _haven’t_ already presumed that I’ll be taking a while.” You move over to the couch in your hardly ever used T.V. room and gesture for Jack to follow you as you sit. He does, and you pull open the report. “I’m guessing you’ve already read this as well as the others besides the super trippy coded one right?”

“Yeah.” He shrugs tiredly, but you can tell that he’s trying to focus his mind from wandering to other places. Poor guy was always naturally curious anyways, but being magically lead to have your mind wander when all you want to do is focus like normal must be so frustrating. “I can tell you the summary of what’s in there though. And faster than how long it would otherwise take to read it through. Cool?”

“Sure.” You nod and lean back. “But are you going to be able to focus through all of it? If it’s too hard I can always just speed read it.”

Jack shakes his head. “Nah, I need to work through this anyways. Plus, it’s just talking about a report, nothing else.” He finishes firmly as though he’s willing himself to make this conversation and explanation only be about a report. Pretending that keeping it normal will make his mind work for him again.

He takes a deep breath, then begins with a firm voice. “Alright, so the reports in general were referring mostly to a person's 'stats,' which we aren’t entirely sure what that really means, and how the amulets would create a barrier until it was no longer necessary. At least, that's what we put together from the vague notes that were put here and there. They were pretty strategically put together too. But if you read between the lines, they said that the amulets _themselves_ would know when the time was right to deactivate the barrier that they were making and sustaining. But for it to work, each of these crystal amulets had to be full of and have an almost constant stream of magic from a donor. It would at least half the canoral's magical maximum potential and capacity while the barrier was active. They would need to be able to at least live for centuries, and their magic would need to last after they die predictably for at least a millennia if not more, in case anything happened. All who put in their magical signature, agreed of their own free will. … as was giving up a certain portion of their memories.” He looks uncomfortable, and you can tell that his mind has wandered off when he remains silent.

Personally, you are grateful for his moment of idleness. It’s a lot to take in.

Why would you give away your memories that easily? Why were you chosen? Were you chosen at all? Maybe you had volunteered. Maybe there was something that you wanted out of it? How long has this been in place? Have all of your memories been altered? Why did you give up half of your potential for an unknown amount of time? Does this mean that you’re going to have a sudden high and crash from getting your potential back at some point? Are you going to be dangerous? Will this kill you?

At that point your mind suddenly gives you the clearest answer you’ve had this whole time: _No. You will be safe._

Somehow it doesn’t quite sound like your own internal voice. But it’s comforting all the same, and you feel like it’s trustworthy. That much motivates you to keep your chin up and—as odd as it seems to you logically—to just relax. Absently, you sink further back into your couch and bring your hand up to the crystal amulet around your neck. It tingles as your fingers brush over it, a fact which you might take more notice of if you weren’t suddenly aware of another massive tremor shaking you to the core. Now more mentally awake, you take note of how much less your head hurts and how sudden memories flash through your mind, slightly too fast to truly understand all of what you see, but it is enough to make you shoot up out of your seat and startle Jack out of his mental wanderings.

“A? You okay there-”

“We need to go. They’re trapped Jack. Shit, they’re trapped under there still.” Your eyes are wide and in shock. Your voice is almost desperate. Your eyes sting with guilty tears.

Jack looks at you in confusion and a little bit of worry. “Uhm, who are we-?”

“Jack, listen to me.” You cut him off again urgently. He doesn’t get it. How could he _not_ get it?! He was _there_ when it happened. _Just. Like. You. Were._ “They are stuck in the _UNDERGROUND.”_

His eyes widen and his hand instantly goes up to grab the amulet on instinct, entire body tense. “Holy shit.” He mutters in alarm. This is shocking, coming from the guy who swears less than you do. “We have to get them out don’t we?” He says it as a question but you know he means it as fact for the future. You know that he is waiting for your plan and call to action.

You nod mutely. The word ‘underground’ used correctly must be the trigger word you guess, thinking on your feet. You hope that you’re right. Offering him your hand, you grasp his wrist firmly as he grabs yours and you pull him up to his feet with finality. Looking him in the eyes, you teleport the two of you into the middle of the Gathering.

Everyone goes silent as you zap in the middle of the room—the only place where it’s always empty besides the main speaker—and look up at the council. Your eyes are glimmering brightly as you let go of Jack’s arm and turn to stand tall and proud, entirely serious for once as you arrive to the meeting. “They are trapped. It is time again to help.” Your full voice cutting the quiet with full seriousness.

Ethan, one of the council, shakes off his surprise and you watch him attempt to clear how his slight fear of you shows on his face, opting for his haughty smirk. “And pray tell, who we are rescuing? Or is this just some kind of sick prank you wanted to pull in the middle of a crisis?”

  
You make eye contact with him, holding it with conviction and powerful authority. The likes you haven’t used for centuries. “Those we left in the UNDERGROUND.”


	3. Triumph! (but at what Cost?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically: it goes down and gets pretty serious.
> 
>  
> 
> ... LoL don't hate me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man. It's really hard not to post these the moment I finish writing them. I would really like to be able to put up a chapter every day, but I think that I need to limit myself to biweekly updates. Probably Mondays/Tuesdays and Thursdays/Fridays? Something like that.
> 
> Thanks for all of the hits, kudos, bookmarks, and a special thanks to UltimateGamer101 for commenting so quickly on the last chapter! That really helped me find motivation to type up the ending to this chapter.
> 
> ~pS

**_You make eye contact with him, holding it with conviction and powerful authority. The likes you haven’t used for centuries. “Those we left in the UNDERGROUND.”_ **

 

 The air freezes. Many who were standing stumble into their seats or to the ground. Others hold their heads. There are three specifically in the room aside from you and Jack who you note remain standing as they were, each with one hand covering an amulet matching yours in design, but all with a different in colour of crystal. You nod to them, and make sure to smile comfortingly at Emm who looks shocked and pale as she clutches her shimmering pinkish-purple amulet like it’s her lifeline.

 “How could we forget?” She whispers loudly into the shellshocked silence. Clearly you were right about that trigger word. Clever ****** for building one in. Ugh, some of these details are still so fuzzy! You were sure you almost had the name there. It’s an important fact that you are more than aware needs to be remembered. But you focus yourself back to the moment. This can wait, the clock is ticking and your window in time to be effectively able to help is running low. _It’s time to pull out the big guns._

 “It was by design. For what outcome I am still unsure.” You speak calmly and turn from Emm to face the council who remain deathly quiet while in shock. “I will be taking charge of this. I find it acceptable and presume there are no disputes?” You watch the group of ten who seem to rouse themselves to varying degrees.

 Of course it’s Ethan— _again—_ who decides to pull himself back together first to speak. He’s got some personal grudge against you, you swear on it. “If we allow this, you will accept a place in the council. Do we have an accord?” He looks so smug. You need to cut this guy down a peg if he thinks it’s okay to try and make a bargain when you know that there may be lives under threat.

 Smiling with a profusely false sweetness, which your close friends know well as the look you give before you _really_ throw down, you take a step forward, anklet jingling sharply with the movement. Your friends quickly and quietly take multiple steps back, instructing those nearby to do the same and pass it around. Like a domino effect as you take another steady and heavily loud step forward, everyone but Ethan steps back with a sense of urgency. They can very well figure your magic could go off as anything with the drop of a pin.

 The vocchron in front of you pales slightly, but doesn’t step back from the unspoken challenge. Your grin becomes something more malicious. “Oh _Ethan._ ” You continue to take another step toward the slightly shorter and younger man, coating your sharp voice with a sickeningly fake-affectionate tone. “And you know best for everyone, _don’t_ you?” It’s not a question. It’s you mocking him, while your rage shoots out through words. “While other canorals are under potential threat, and someone who best knows ways to work around barriers and spatial magic _and_ can get out of the worst situations when they apply their mind to it, _volunteers to help,_ what do you do?”

 You step up right to his face, your raw and active magic pulsing around you. He flinches and finally steps back, his motivation to hold his position wavering. “You try to bargain. To get approval of those around you. Because. Of. Your. _Pride_.” You punctuate every word, your clear voice ringing out into the tense silence. His whole body looks like it just took a hit and he looks away from your piercing gaze in shame. You know that look, you’ve gotten him to the core. With a pause, you relent. He’s really still a child in your eyes, and children tend to stumble the most. This is a teaching moment and you are going to make the most of it.

 You soften your expression, along with your magical concentration and quiet your voice so only he can really hear you. “Don’t let yourself act like a lost and corrupt human, kiddo. It’s beneath you.”

 His face snaps back up and again he’s looking at you, in shock and what you think is a glimmer of horrified, guilty-shame for having been seen through. His cheeks set themselves ablaze and he looks down again. His voice now softer and more embarrassed than any other time you’ve heard it, he whispers for your ears alone to hear. “I know. I’ve been foolish. I… I am sorry.” He chokes up and tries to hide the subtle shaking that comes from the strain of not allowing oneself to cry in front of a crowd.

 You take pity on him, sensing his remorse, and envelop him in a gentle hug so the others don’t notice his trembling. He stiffens but soon relaxes and hugs you back. “All is forgiven. Learn from this and don’t repeat it. You won’t find happiness acting out like that.” You whisper softly. You know that he heard you when he nods softly into your shoulder. Allowing him to collect himself before you let go and step back, you give yourself a moment to think about how to approach the next task you have. But you don’t give yourself more than a few seconds. This isn’t going to be all that fun.

 When you step back and turn to the rest of the circle, you speak for all to hear again. Your voice strong, but weary in anticipation of another greenhorn trying to pick a fight. “Is there anyone who would challenge me for the charge of this task?” No one says a word, but the tension that was in the air has vanished. You smile gently and nod. “Thank you. Now, I would request that all those with amulets such as mine would step forwards and join me. You know who you are, and you know that the time has come once again to act.” Being formal like this isn’t really your favourite thing ever, but it shows everyone just how serious you are about all of this.

 Jack steps forwards. He holds an unwavering strength as he walks hand in hand with Emm who smiles at you; showing you she’s ready to fight out the end of the world tirelessly if she needs to in order to help you and those ‘underground.’ From the corner of your eye, two more make their way over to you. One a woman, about the same age as Jack—who actually introduced you to each other in the first place—known as Zantha who holds a bright shimmering green crystal amulet in her hand. The other to approach you is one of the few vicchron still around who are older than you. He’s a good friend of yours who, for reasons you can’t really explain, haven’t spoken with for a long while now. Although he went by a variety of names and titles when he was younger, he is now called by his original coming of age name: Arthur. He wears his light ocean blue amulet around his neck gracefully. They each nod to you and softly acknowledge you, already accepting whatever tasks you might require of them in the near future.

 You smile at them and note silently to yourself how it’s probably a good thing vicchrones age slowly after they reach the age and size of twelve, and don’t physically age at all unless they choose to once they pass the age of three hundred which looks most similar to a human at twenty-five. You have a sneaking suspicion that you are all going to need as much physical strength as you can get to make this work. You turn and quickly have Jack give you the ownerless amulets. Sighing before looking up from the gems in your hands to the one who gave them to you, you convey how difficult this next part is going to be. He nods grimly and puts a hand on your shoulder.

 “I need one more,” you turn back to the other members in the gathering and single out Lillie. Jack’s hand drops from your shoulder, and you accept the burdens that come with this kind of horrid request. “Lils, I’m sorry but we are going to need your help too, if you would like. This will be difficult and potentially life-threatening since you will have to be a placeholder for another who once held the magical signature for this amulet. Your own signature is  most similar to the one in the amulet out of all here,” You hold out a ruby red amulet to her. “Please only accept this request if you feel up to the challenge and all possible consequences.”

 She stares you down as she confidently struts forwards with steely determination. “I would have caused a ruckus if you thought you could leave without me Áine. Good thing you didn’t forget what I said in my letter.” She smiles with strength, telling you now without words that whatever happens, her choices are her own and the consequences belong only her. You appreciate her strength and accountability in this situation, but you still feel an awful weight over your shoulders and down your back for involving another of your closest friends in this mess.

 “Thank you.” You make out hoarsely before you hug her tightly. A gesture she returns just as strongly and you can feel from the magical aura around her that she means business and will do everything in her power to make your plan succeed. As you let go, you smile knowing that your trustworthy friend is made of tougher stuff than you might ever know. And you are filled with hope, knowing that she is determined to make you win every battle you have to face, no matter what.

 A powerful and almost anxious feeling swells intensely in your chest and you are reminded that you are still on a tight schedule. “I would ask that a descendant of Robert and Camille come forward if they are prepared to take on this task.” You watch as a young woman steps in front of the crowd, head held high.

 You realize that no one ever told you those other names or details about each person on the papers besides yours. The thought brings you a stab of sadness to your heart and somehow, a little deeper than that. You miss the couple that you had forgotten.

 “I accept the call.” The young woman’s voice is gentle and regal. You realize that she cannot be much older than two hundred years old by how her magic feels. She joins your group and you hand out to her a shimmering and bold yellow amulet.

 “Are you sure.” You ask so firmly that it almost doesn’t sound like a question. “There is no shame in stepping back. You are still young, still mostly a child. You may not survive this mission. Is this what you wish to take as possible last moments?”

 She nods surely. “I am Danniel, only child and daughter of Robert and Camille. My parent’s blood calls me to action, and I accept your request on their behalf and for their sake. They will find true rest through my giving and finding true justice in this situation.” She tugs the amulet out of your hand but you swiftly take it back, then place it respectfully around her neck.

 “Your parents would be proud of your strength and commitment to them and what is right. I am sure they will find the peace they deserve.” You speak solemnly with tears at the corners of your eyes. _She’s another innocent that might die, simply because I asked._ Your internal dialogue and reprimands are cut short as a light catches your eye. The jewel around Danniel’s neck, as well as the red one around Lillie’s neck, brighten for a tender moment and return to their usual ember-like glow. Your group smiles softly at the calming expression of reminiscent love through magic, and you turn back to the council.

 “I, Áine, declare this mission one of no interference and highest level of danger and risk. We may not all return, and therefore offer our final moments to our loved ones in this moment, if we are to meet our ends whilst away.” Your voice almost trembles and you clutch the last amulet—an almost opaque white stone. There was no one that seemed to resonate with this one, so you will take on the challenge as it’s charge. Considering the kind of magic you have, it makes the most sense.

 … This might be the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do. You might be leading a willing _child_ to her death, as well as close and recently remembered friends. The reality of this hits you and you almost crumble right there and then with the weight of it all.

 “Our time here is up. The deadline approaches.” Jake speaks with finality from behind you, his voice filled with that ever admirable courage he keeps. Your whole group understands the truth and you see it as they stiffen their resolve. Oh these beautiful people. It gives you the hope and strength you need to boost your own integrity.

 Nodding, you take the hands of Danniel and Lillie, watching as the rest of the group links hands and forms the circle. “Thank you all.” You speak softly. “I will open up the Arch, but the Amulets will take us where we really need to be. Hope for the best, expect the worst. If I ask you to do something, do it without question. We have no room for error or hesitancy.” You look for acceptance and are met with nods from all. Relaxing slightly, you close your eyes and using your magic through your mind alone, create a strange and uniquely drawn Arch beneath everyone. With a zap you activate it and feel the weightlessness come over you as you fall through.

 “We are coming. Wait for us.”

  


 The trip has you pass through that blackness-that-also-isn’t-blackness. It surprises you since you don’t know how to get to this place, but the trip through it is a lot shorter than you were expecting all the same. And comfortable. This time, it’s as though the voices are whispering to you, they give you a sequence of things that need to happen in specific order; much like that of a to-do list. This information passes through your mind, just as fast as that flash of memories when you first remembered the Underground. This time though, the basic concepts of what was said are much easier to keep clear in your mind.

 Before you realize it though, you and the group are out of that strange place, and on an island that is stiflingly familiar. Everyone drops each other’s hands and just stand limply, taking in the scene.

 “Whoa…” Lillie’s voice comes from your left. She never would have seen it before. Danniel either now that you think about it.

 It feels like home.

 It also feels depressingly oppressive and angry.

 Those are both such conflicting feelings that they jar you into action.

 “Okay, we can take in the view later. This is what needs to happen right now. Time is running out quickly.” You pull everyone back and explain how this is going to work, experiences that they might face, and what to do if they feel like they’re fading out. (You can’t bring yourself to say if they feel themselves dying. It hurts and you don’t have the time to deal with a wounded heart and distracted mind by the thought alone right now.)

 

*******

 

 You watch as everyone rushes to the described positions around the comically small mountain on the middle of this isolated island. It turns out that those voices in the black-not-black weren’t talking to you alone, and made your job explaining the plan much easier. Locking one hand onto your indigo amulet and the other on the white amulet, you begin to fill them both with more energy.

 As you sit down and begin to fill them, you feel like different parts of yourself are being absorbed from either side. Hope, love and charity are taken with your magical energy into the opaque white gem, while the blue gem demands your integrity. Before now you had no idea that these things could be demanded and taken from you. You almost feel as if you’re being torn in two, but you continue on, holding onto your strengthened resolve to build what you might otherwise consider copious amounts of those same hope, love, charity, and integrity. You didn’t even know you could do something like this before. Emotions are weird. Or whatever these actually are since they feel more solid than regular emotions. If that makes sense. Whatever. You’ve got too many gaps in your memory still to actually make sense of much that’s happening right now.

 Still, charging the amulets takes a fair amount out of you, but hopefully (heh heh. _Hope_ -fully.) you have put in enough for the strain to not be so much on your companions. No one is going to die on your watch. With the exception of yourself, if worst comes to worst.

 It isn't because you like playing the hero or something. Not in the slightest; you just can't bear to live with that guilt. The kind of killer guilt that reminds you how your friend's blood is on your hands, whether or not it was actually your fault.

 _Nope. Nope-nopety-nopenope. I am_ not _doing this right now. Focus on the now, girl. The others should be sending up their signals any moment now. Then they’ll wait for my signal to start breaking apart the key symbols at the right time so those inside don’t get hurt. Let’s deal with other emotional mishaps at a later date. Deal? Deal._

 You look around to check for any signals. _None yet, let’s keep charging these powerstones._ Your vibrating magic activates again to speed up the whole absorption process, which it does considerably. Setting this whole process on autopilot, you go through the last details of the plan, as well as your backup details incase you have to give it your true all for everyone’s sake.

  1. Pull everyone’s energy and magic out of the barrier spell before the whole barrier collapses and brings them with it.
  2. Get them all out of the way of potential explosiveness or whiplash they might face if they stay at their posts. Teleportation into the cleaner and safer barrier you created when everyone split up should do the trick.
  3. Assess damages.
  4. Greet the emerging canorals (if all goes well, no one attacks, freaks out, or gets hurt. Hope for the best, expect the worst.)
  5. Figure out where the heck you are.



 

 You chuckle at that. Usually, figuring out your location is no problem at all. You always know where you are. But this place has been specifically cut off of all spatial rips in the Arch so it opens up somewhere in the human-scape. Potentially dangerous if someone were to fall into the massive gash of an opening that connects the two physical locations since they wouldn’t be able to get back out again. But it’s also a rather smart and clever plan, since if it were left in StoneArch, anyone who accidentally found it would probably get themselves killed trying to disable the barrier and illogical connection as is typical protocol.

 That nitwit *a**er. You grunt angrily and scrunch up your face in frustration. You _almost had it_ that time! Stupid name. Probably for a stupid person. A person so stupid you readily agreed to have them erased from your memory for as long as possible.

 You suddenly regret that thought, and feel your rage emptied and replaced by something incredibly sad. _Stupid. Freaking ridiculous. EMOTIONS!_ They make no sense to you, but they are all incredibly strong. Strong to the point that you know you have these specific feelings after thinking all that earlier, for a reason that involves a strong connection to another person. Another person who you cared about deeply before you had to forget them.

 You jolt as a explosion of magic to your left goes off. It’s Emm’s water-based magic that swirls into a tame whirlpool and vanishes. She’s the first then. Five more to go, eighteen minutes till you send the start signal.

 Oh yeah, back to the list of things that you’re going to do if you sense anyone’s magic beginning to fail.

  1. Activate all of the magic and emotion or whatever it is you put in these funky amulets so that they can keep your place while you focus away from the barrier for a few seconds.
  2. Send the list of instructions you wrote and copied onto multiple pieces of paper to everyone and begin activating the delayed safety measures you put together and listed earlier.
  3. Put your entire magical energy, potential, and being into breaking not only your own symbol, but also the symbol of whoever you feel is failing. You know from lessons years ago that doing something like that will kill you 99 times out of 100. You’re still trying to have faith in your team and not worry. You’re almost sure it won’t come to such drastic measures.



 Probably.

 

 You sigh and rub your temples slowly. Another two explosions go off almost at the same time. One you know to be Jack’s because it’s made up entirely of massive numbers that shift almost too fast to understand in the air without much of a fuss, till they find an end with the equation: 0÷0=ERROR. _Then_ it explodes. Of course that scientific maths nerd had to make an explosion triggered by a _mathematical paradox._

 You snort, mildly amused. What a flashy dork. It’s because of silly things like this that you and Jack are such good friends. You both have a knack for creating humorous little events in the midst of dire situations. You’ve both found that it tends to help things be successful since people relax a bit and can focus better when out of that whole ‘fight or flight’ mode.

 The other explosion though, which actually explodes first despite the fact that it was sent up a few seconds after Jack’s, creates a mirage of shells. Well, that’s what you think at first anyways. On closer inspection you find that it’s actually hundreds of magically made sand-dollars raining from a massive clamshell opening up. They’re adorable and you recognize the feeling you get from Danniel’s magic. She’s made it. Jack’s made it.

 Three to go.

 You snap out of it as you realise you still need to start coming up with a way to one-up Jack’s funny signal. You grin mischievously as the beginnings of a plan formulate in your mind. This is going to be fun.

 But first, even before the one-upping, you need to check on the amulets. For you, multitasking is a real thing. To the extreme of a real thing. _And all real numbers. The imaginary ones too. Ha! Beat that one Jack._

 You smirk, but look down at the two necklaces in your hands, honing in on how much magic they’ve absorbed as well as how much more they can take. Focusing on the white one first, you notice now that it’s generating it’s own magic to add to yours. How it’s doing so, you have not a single freaking clue. Magic. That is your best bet. It is the only bet, really. But either way, it’s building up steadily and a rate so fast that you have a sneaking suspicion the gem is expanding its own maximum magical containment limit. Maybe those reports were right to a degree about the gems having their own consciences. It feels encouraging and the light it produces is brightening by the second.

 Your indigo one on the other hand, is fluctuating in brightness like a warning. Like a 'I’m missing something' kind of warning. You hear a boisterous voice similar to yours shout-whisper  _wuzzzaaaap?!_ in your mind.

 “Holy what the-!“ You almost throw it away in surprise, but it interrupts you quickly.

 _ Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down! Sheesh woman. You’re supposed to be smart. You should be totally used to random magical artifacts talking to you, you know? Since you’re so OLD. _ It speaks smugly in your mind, fully aware that this is actually the first time that anyone in the history of vicchrones has found a powerful magical artifact with it’s own consciousness.

 “Yeah whatever.” Sometimes you think that your ability to take the most random and nonsensical things in stride should get you some kind of award. “So what is it you need then? You shouldn't be flashing me for no reason here you know.” You smirk gleefully, loving the different passive aggressive paths your mind could take you in this conversation. “It's rather indecent. Especially since I didn't ask for your light-show.”

 The gem pauses in momentary surprise at being smack talked right off the bat. _ Well, you certainly are the oddball magic creator I grew consciousness from. No doubt there. Anyways, I need you to give me something more than just your delicious Integrity so that I can expand my maximum magic containment level like Peach Fuzz over there. _

_ Hey! _ The white Jewel shouts with a massively exaggerated mock indignant tone into your mind.  _I resent that! I told you to stop calling me that, Sky Puddle._

_ Oh! _ Your indigo amulet responds with a similarly over exaggerated voice. You can almost imagine it holding a hand over its heart as some kind of humanoid.  _You wound me, White. I thought we were friends! Even the best of frenemies at times! Oh how the years have jaded us._

 You snort at their antics. “Ladies, ladies. I know I'm gorgeous and everyone wants me. But fear not,” you don a mischievous smirk again. “I can share.”

 Your smirk only widens as you note you've reduced the two amulets to stunned silence. But it doesn't last long. It's 'White' who pipes up first, with an excited and impressed grin in its voice.  _You told me she was great before, Indie. But you didn't tell me your parent was on this high a level of amazing. You've been holding out on me._

 'Indie' just seems to shrug casually, but still not quite able to hide the proud smile in its voice.  _You never asked White._

 “Not to breakup your totally obvious crushing on me or anything, but I do need to know how to expand your max capacity Indigo. What did you need from me?” You dart in before the two can go off on another tangent you have to flirt your way into. If it were any other time, you would have no problem continuing on this banter. But you've got a schedule to stick to here and by golly you'll keep yourself in check if it kills you.

 _ Yeah _ _Indigo._ A new voice jumps in gently. How the actual heck? You aren’t holding another gem, last you checked.  _We need to get a move on you know? Did you_ want _to be stuck in an amulet for the rest of your existence?_

 There's a bit of grumbling before Indigo finally responds. _Of course I don't want to stay stuck forever, Green. It’s just… She can finally hear me, and we can finally talk. I’ve been waiting longer than the rest of you for this moment and…_ The amulet dims slightly. _It just feels so good to be acknowledged by the person who gave you the opportunity to exist, you know? To know that she really exists and you’re not hated or nothing more than a confusing nuisance._ It’s voice is quiet now.

 _Oh man. These poor stones have been entirely alone at this barrier, holding it together the whole time huh?_ You frown at the thought. _That sounds awful._

 _ Yeah, _ yet another new voice pops in your mind.  _It’s been pretty rough._ Can they freaking read your mind here? Yeesh.  _But Indigo here has been consciously around for much longer than the rest of us. He developed earlier than what we found out later was actually scheduled. It took a lot of mental strength and bravery to be alone for so long. Although,_ the voice changes it’s tone from a respectful kind of awe, to a bright and happy pride.  _He’ll never be as brave as me!_

You chuckle. “Oh wow, you must be pretty tough then. Who might you be?”

 _ That’s _ _Orange._ White speaks up amusedly,  _she’s quite the bundle of rambunctious fearlessness._

_ Yeah, yeah, okay guys. We’re still on a timer you know and- _ You grin as Indigo speaks up and you know what he’s going to say.

 “I would love to get to know you all at a later time!” You finish cheerfully. “You guys are a blast. But right now we need to get this barrier down without anyone dying.”

 _ Yeah because you totally weren’t planning to sacrifice yourself if things went downhill. _ Both White and Indigo respond in sync. Indigo sounds angrier than White who still sounds peeved.

 “Well what was I supposed to do otherwise?” You reply in defensive surprise. You didn’t realise they knew about that, or that they would be so angered by it. You suddenly feel another four consciouses jump into your mind, but remain quiet as do the rest. There’s a tension there among the eight that if you took a guess, you would say it was the amulets having a silent discussion based on your plan to sacrifice yourself if anything went wrong.

But they're magic talking amulets. Like you would have any idea or know what they are _actually_ doing. Maybe it's like a staring contest.

 There is another moment where this loud silence continues, then Indigo sighs.  _I suppose you didn’t know about us really so it was the best plan you could come up with. Still, don’t do it. You won’t need to. Just… try focusing your energy on ALL of us amulets. Since your magic is so flexible they’ll pick it up and start working on building up their own magical strength and potential with their parents and stand-ins. Aside from that…_ You note his pause for you to start spreading out your magical energy like a web over the barrier to each of the amulets while you wait. The other presences in your mind leave one by one until it’s only you, Indigo, and the fuzzy feeling that White is only half there and not really paying attention.

 “Yes?” You prompt softly.

 _ Oh. _ He almost seems to jump in your mind. Maybe he was thinking about something?  _Yeah. Aside from that, I need you to give me trust._

 … “Trust?” What the heck does that mean?

_ Yeah, I know it sounds funny and weird, but it’s the key I need to expanding my potential. It’s what will help me start building my own so that you can begin getting yours back. _

 “Huh. Cool. Let’s do this then.” You focus on building up a feeling of trust to send through and maintain it while sending what is becoming easier and easier to create through whatever kind of link this is. “Should I just be calling you guys by your colours, or is there something else I should use as your names? This might get confusing otherwise.” You don’t want to discredit the fact that these guys are more than just self aware. You can tell for a fact that they have the same complexity as any other canoral.

 _ Oh. Well, yeah. Colours will work for now. _ Indigo seems surprised you thought to ask.

 “Okie-dokie. We’ll work on figuring out whatever other names you lot want to be called after this then, huh?” You’re given a general feeling of ‘sure’ and you chuckle softly. “You know-”

 You’re cut off by another offset of three explosions of light formed into specifically and separately: tree roots breaking through boulders, books coupled with quills, and a cloud of glitter. You laugh at the glitter one. Lillie’s totally trying to one up Jack too. Glitter—the one material you cannot stand above all—is such a pain to clean up and you know she’s also getting after you for making that one pun at her expense. This is clearly her saying ‘I know how much you hate glitter, so here’s my offering to you.’ Well, you can say that you know what she’s saying because she actually spelled it out in the air with her glitter.

 Dang your friends and their amazingness that matches yours. Now you absolutely _have_ to come up with something spectacular. With a quick check to your internal timer, you note that you have ten minutes left. A jolt of almost panic shoots through you but you just grin and burn it out with an actual magic fire. A fire that surrounds you, full of excitement and eager thrill to take the fear’s place. _Panic? When it’s just getting good? Like hell I’m gonna put up with that._

 _ Holy shit… _ Indigo and White say in unison, their tones filled with awe.

 _ Indigo, I hate you for life. How come you get the badass parent? Not even fair. _ White grumbles and whines.

 _ Well it wasn’t by choice, but I’m not trading you. _ Indigo sounds smug and still enthralled with your ability to use and maintain magic on top of what you’re already expending.

 You snort at their banter. “Mind filling me in on what’s going on here?”

 _ You’re being a show off for Indigo, Áine. _ \- _You’re being a fucking badass that’s what._ The pair reply.

 _ What we really mean is, _ White starts with a mental nudge which feels akin to jabbing an elbow into Indigo. Y  _ou must have more magical potential and control than we expected. You’re simultaneously charging eight different amulets at once—not to mention that you’re also not in physical contact with six of us—you’re maintaining safety precautions which should be taking up a majority of your mental concentration to maintain them safely, and you’re now literally burning out your fear through_ even more _magic. We clearly underestimated you here, and honestly you’re terrifying in the best way we could have hoped for._

 You sit there in silence for a second, then snort with laughter. “Oh my gosh. Man you must have been basing your expectations on the me from like, 800 years ago. I have been able to do this kind of magic multitasking thing for hundreds of years now. And honestly, even since I’ve been giving Indigo trust for just a little while now, I can personally tell that my potential as risen and my magic is building higher than I can ever remember it being before.” You shrug and finally decide on what your start signal is going to be.

 With the setting sun behind you giving you an awesome mood builder,this should be fun. But you still want to see what smarts you can get from the amulets on what you don’t yet know about breaking the barrier. Or possibly just can’t remember. Ugh, how frustrating. “So. What can you guys fill me in on how this ‘breaking down the barrier’ is going to work? We’ve got about seven minutes before I need to send up the signal, so let’s make this quick.”

 _ Alright. That’s a fair thing to ask I guess. _ Indigo replies.  _If all goes well, which it should!_ He adds quickly as you grimace.  _The barrier will go down, but it’ll send a shock wave a few seconds after it’s totally destroyed that’ll knock you lot out if you don’t have your own protective barriers up. Which you have conveniently already put together. Also you were right that if you don’t get the magic of the others in the TDTB group- sorry, your 'taking down the barrier' group out of the process as soon as they break their own symbol, they’ll start getting sucked up into the unstable thing. I mean, it’s already rather unstable since we ditched it to come and get you all, but it’ll become severely unstable at that point._

_ Wrap this up faster Indie. _ White adds in quickly.  _Not enough time to explain it all right now. All she needs is the basic details and she can take it from there. We’ll pick up any slack._

_ Yeah, _ _alright. Five minutes left, right?_

 You snort at this. There's no was you can pass this up. “No, your left is most definitely _not_ your right Indie. You should know this stuff.” You grin and White cracks up at this.

 _ What the hell Áine. _ White continues to laugh.  _You and your friends could potentially still die in a few minutes if you aren’t careful. This is some serious shit right here, and you just crack jokes like nothing’s about to go down._

 “Hey,” you start with a mock reprimanding tone. “There is no time where cracking a joke like that is not appropriate. At my funeral I’ll be having everyone talk—besides my closest friends—in puns the whole time. If they don’t, they’ll trip an ancient enchantment I altered forever ago which will automatically bring me back as a ghost to haunt the world forever. Or, until I feel like quitting because I’m just bored.” You shrug and the two amulets crack up laughing.

 _ Yeah, you’re my new favourite Áine. My parents can suck it. You’re way cooler. _ White grins.  _Anyways, just make sure you break your symbol for the barrier last. In the meantime, you can help everyone else break theirs if they start failing or whatever. Aside from that, make sure you pull them each out and do what you were planning for anyways the moment you know they’ve broken their symbol. We’ve got the rest._

_ Including! _ Indigo pipes up, now over laughing so hard he couldn’t say a word.  _Getting you out when you finish your part. We got your back, mum._ He freezes at that and you can tell that he’s embarrassed. His crystal is heating up like a blush and it makes you giggle. That’s adorable.

 “Well that’s good to know. Thanks, kiddo.” You smile kindly but pause when the timer starts to count down from thirty seconds. “Welp. We had better get ready huh?” You stand and begin prepping your signal. You’ll be sending it up ten seconds early anyways, so you quickly formulate the magical sequence you want it to follow.

 Twenty seconds left. You feel your magical potential bump up by a lot, your magic suddenly swelling again. This is an insane amount of magic to have lost access to, and you can tell this isn’t the last of it yet. You might really be as terrifying as the amulets said.

 Fifteen seconds left. You hold off the signal. Just five more seconds.

 

 Fourteen.

 

 Thirteen.

 

 Twelve.

 

 Eleven.

 

 TEN. You throw the signal high into the air and watch as it instantly displays a game board with a massive ‘GAME START’ at the top, the timer underneath, and the listed names of all the vicchrones here with you underneath. A point system count is next to each name and you just know that Emm, Jack, and Lillie will probably be laughing despite the tension of the moment. You hope that everyone else can lighten up with this. And aim to destroy their parts faster. To get bonus points for finishing first, obviously.

 It’s almost time to get started.

 

 FOUR.

 

 THREE.

 

 TWO.

 

_ONE._

 

_GAME: BEGIN!_

 

 This is where everything goes to hell.

 

The barrier trembles again, the most expressively angry wave of unstable magic rushes over you. You’re sure it’s hitting everyone else too, and you expand your awareness through the barrier’s magic to feel where everyone else is in the process of shattering each symbol.

 Everything is fine. No one is struggling and everyone’s actually not having too bad of a time. That is until you notice that Zantha puts in her entire magic, potential, and core into breaking her barrier symbol, as well as Danniels. Your face pales and tears start running down your face. “ _NO!”_ You scream in horror and shock. She was doing fine on her own, _Zantha wasn’t supposed to do that!_

 You know that you can’t do anything about it. You are helpless to stop her. She made his decision and can no longer go back. Her sacrifice is monumental and her life would have continued for hundreds of years, you know it would have. That very moment you begin to dwell on it is the same moment when you feel Emm falter ever so slightly. You rush into help her, your magic still in strong enough to be able to stabilize her.

 But in the midst of your emotional upheaval, the next person you sense to do something as stupid as Zantha, is Lillie. She’s going to go for it too. _No. Please, no! Not you too Lils._ She’s going to put in her everything.

 Two people who you have known for so long, and care about so much it almost hurts, have decided to give their all and leave everything behind. You know why they decided to do it. Still.

 You haven’t cried so freely in near a millennia. You scream and fall to your knees, beating your fists into the ground. Why!? Why did it have to happen!? They shouldn’t have gone that far! _WHY DID ANY OF THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN!?_

 If you had been paying more attention, you would have heard the two amulets you put around your neck shouting at you. But grief is a powerful thing.

 You continue helping Emm, although she no longer needs it, and attempt to finish breaking Lillie’s symbol before she can go too far. But that stubborn idiot _won’t let you._ She’s always been driven and she cares way too much sometimes.

 It’s then you notice that one after another of these loathsome barrier’s symbols shatter. You bundle up enough of your senses to activate the safety procedures you put together beforehand at each location where a symbol was destroyed. You separate each magical signature from the barrier’s black-hole-like attack and teleport them out as quickly as you can.

 You repeat this until pretty soon, all of the complicated symbols are broken but yours. You finally activate your raw magic and have much clearer focus since not having to pay attention to your companions as well as feed amulets all over the island. You stand and raise your left hand over your head, looking at the white glowing diagram in front of you. The sky darkens in a second and you start speaking harshly in Cosmdicta—the ancient language of magic that you haven’t needed to use in order to keep your own magic under control in years. The raw magic you pushed into the atmosphere begins to shift into the most powerful thing you can think of that can maintain a true shape with how much magic you’re putting into it. It takes only a few more seconds and as you bring your hand down, venting all of your anger, guilt, sadness, frustration, and feelings of loss into the lightning bolt that destroys both the drawing and the ground below it with a deafening roar. The area that used to be all green and thriving, you’ve now left a blackened scar of your anguish in a jagged and smoking charcoal bowl indented in the ground.

 Mutely, you notice that Indigo and White, along with the other amulets, are shouting at you in your head. You only really understand what Indigo is saying.

_ -So help me Áine if you do not snap out of it I am going to-! _

 “Sorry.” You mumble softly. All of the voices go quiet.

 _ Áine… _ Your amulet starts again, much softer than before.  _I know that you’re hurting, but you need to go help your friends. You need to get away from here before the barrier hits you with the shockwave from closing._

_I know._ You take a deep breath and wipe the tear tracks from your face. _I’ll go get them. I need to know that those who weren’t so… So_ STUPID. _Are still safe._

 _ We’re here for you if you need it Áine. _ Green speaks up gently and you suddenly have a feeling similar to that of being hugged. You appreciate it, you really do. And you feel bad for the loss of the amulet’s parent. But your heart is still heavy with loss and guilt.

 “Thank you.” You murmur softly, feeling broken inside. It should have been you. Never them. They didn’t need to. You had it covered. They did it anyways. “I’m sorry.” You whisper brokenly.

 You teleport yourself inside the protecting barrier you made with your back to the group, you add more strength to the shield as the shockwave hits. It isn’t much to deal with, but the people behind you will be much more of a mental strain to handle.

 You feel a pair of slender arms wrap around you from behind you and hug you loosely around your abdomen. “Hey, we know about Zantha, Áine.” The gentle voice startles you and you freeze. It can’t be her. _She just died._ “It isn’t your fault sweetie. She chose that path.

 “You…” Voice hoarse, you feel another tear slide down your face. “How can you still…?”

 “How can I still be here?” Her voice is still sad, but picks up an ever so slightly amused tone all the same. “Well I think that you just over reacted after Zantha went all out. I never gave my everything, only pushed the potential that I had just got extra of a little. Your reaction was still an understandable one Áine.”

 You can’t take it anymore and you turn in her hold. You are met with the softly smiling face of Lillie. The woman you believed dead. Everyone else is there behind her. Danniel is helping Jack with setting up preparations for the kind of burial that the forever compassionate woman would have wanted. Emm is working on something with Arthur that you can’t see, but Lillie is still the biggest part of your focus. You hug her back closely and bury your face where her shoulder meets her neck.

 “Damn it Lils! You scared me. So bad. I thought you were dead.” Your voice cracks, but you take a shuddering breath in deeply, releasing it slowly and calm yourself down. “Don’t do that again, alright?” She nods and chuckles. That’s as much as you need for now, the world doesn’t stop just because you’re grieving and emotionally still a little distressed. Well, you could make time stop for you, but that’s not fair to everyone else.

 So you tip your chin up and go over to where Zantha’s body is laying on the ground. You kneels down beside Danniel and Jack. Danniel is trembling and you hug her from the side, until she turns towards you and hugs you tightly. “Sh-she d-did it for m-my parents!” The youngest of the group cries into you and you hold her close and comforting while you listen. “I, she knew I wouldn’t make it on my own and th-they saved her and didn’t survive. S-s-so she to-old me that she couldn’t _not_ r-return the favour! I was hiding how much I was st-struggling to keep my magic f-from the beginning, but she knew and h-helped me by giving her All!” She continues to cry, but Jack takes her from you and holds her, murmuring words of comfort much better than you could right now. But you understand what she is saying, and it’s good to know why Zan decided to give her All so seemingly random-like. It wasn’t just her giving up or something, it was an loyalty and what must have been some kind of promise.

 It reminds you how you are never perfect, no one ever is, no matter what anyone thinks. You didn’t notice, or maybe you weren’t paying enough attention? To the fact that Danniel here was struggling from the start? The entire situation was out of your hands, and there is more that still needs to be done.

 “Áine.” You turn to look at Emm and Arthur who stand behind you and nod so they know they’ve got your attention. “We can handle everything here. You need to go and talk to those who will be emerging any minute now.” Arthur tells you softly. “I know you would like to be here for this, but there are a whole people who need you right now. You’re the best for the job considering your translational skills.”

 Emm nods sadly. “I agree. The rest of us will need to be here for the ritual to work. But I was talking with Green, and she said that Zantha wanted you to look after her when she was gone. She, um. Also said something about how you would adopt Green and help her grow up right when the time came? I’m a little unsure of what that means but I was told that you would understand.” Emm shrugs and holds out the green amulet for you to take.

 Carefully, you take it from her hand and put it softly around your neck along with the other two. “I’ll make sure to look after her.” You sigh softly, knowing that you are needed elsewhere. “I suppose I’ll be back later. Wish me luck.”

 Lillie strides towards you before you can move to teleport, and quickly fixes up your makeup and clothes. She gives you one last hug and nods determinedly. “You can do it, Silverspeak. We believe in you.” You chuckle at the use of your old nickname.

 “Thanks Lils. Thank you all. Make sure Zantha knows I wanted to be here, but couldn’t and I’m finishing what we started.” You get a collection of nods before you teleport to the base of the mountain.

 Breaking one last small barrier marking, you see a vast collection of people emerge into the light of the lingering sunset. As you look over the newcomers, you notice there are two vicchrones that you were not expecting, but still recognise instantly.

 “Frisk?! Chara?!”

 The kids smile sheepishly at you and wave as you just stare in shock and growing irritation.

 Oh they are _so_ in for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Hey. You! Yes, you. You're beautiful.
> 
> Also, if you've gotten all the way through the chapter to this end note here, help me feed my comments monster. He helps me come up with ideas so my chapters are better and longer. ;•) 
> 
> Questions are always welcome.
> 
> ~pS ]


	4. Prove Your Worth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you cuss out the twins, meet some people you heard about before the barrier, and remember some old friends. 
> 
> Sans is a suspicious skele-boy but... You'll see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! I CAN FINALLY PUT THIS UP HERE!!! Also, I might have to edit this one since I'm uploading it off of my iPod. (I edited the last chapter too a bit of you want to check that out.)
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy it!  
> ~pS

**_Oh_** ** _they are_ ** **so** **_in for it._ **

 You march over to the twins and pull their ears, ignoring everyone else that stands behind them. “It’s been _forty years!_ Do you have any idea how worried everyone was about you two?” You glare at the both of them and they have the decency to blush in embarrassment. “Your parents came to _me_ . _Worrying like the end of the world_ about you two! Do you have any idea how many months I went sleepless trying to find you? How hard it was to tell your parents that _there was no trace that either of my students ever existed?”_

 The pair look down at the ground guiltily as you let go of their ears. “Sorry.” **_Sorry._ ** Chara mumbles and Frisk signs. Frisk knows that they don’t really need to sign for you to understand them. They must be doing it for those behind them. 

 You sigh tiredly and press a kiss to each of their foreheads. “You’re forgiven. The both of you. Just don’t go running off to the human-scape again on your own, you hear me? Not until you’re _at least_ 500 years old.” You look them down sternly again.

 ** _Yes ma’am!_ ** Frisk salutes you before giggling and grinning cheekily. 

 “You bet, Áine.” Chara copies the silly salute and grins just as cheekily as his twin before that grin becomes a little more seductive. “Looking sexy as usual in your formal attire. What’s the occasion?”

 ** _Yeah, it’s not for us is it?_** Frisk grins slyly, then after a moment looks up at you excitedly, actually opening their eyes slightly so you can see the red irises that match their brother’s. **_OR!?_** **_Are you finally seeing someone?!_**

 “Well it’s never going to be for either of you major flirts. I’m way too old for the pair of you and way out of your leagues yet, you brats. And it’s not for anyone either. Lillie forced me to. Plus, who said that you lot could start giving me cheek after all this trouble?” You smirk as you mess up their hair affectionately and laugh when they both try to fix the damage. “You’re both as big of dorks as Jack is. Well, almost. But you’ve really gotta quit flirting with everyone you see.”

 They both giggle at that, then seem to remember that they’ve forgotten something. With a quick glance between each other, they each take one of your hands and drag you towards the small group of canorals they walked out with.

 Half expecting this crazy behaviour, you allow them to pull you over and choose to look up at the people that you’re about to meet. The first thing you notice is that they all look split between staring at the sky and the sunset. The second thing you notice is how _tense_ they look with you there.

 The third thing you notice—because it’s a curious sight—is that there are two skeletons who stand next to each other. The taller of the two is admiring the sky, while the shorter one glares daggers at you, their magic humming softly in your radar. He locks eyes (eye sockets?) with you and your head throbs softly. That’s when you finally get that name you’ve been trying to remember this whole time. You know why they reminded you too.

 “Oh fucking hell, Gaster!” You realise after a few moments that you said that out loud, so to cover your tracks a bit, you straighten and look between the two shocked skeleton canorals. “You’re both that nitwit Gaster’s kids aren’t you?”

 “WHY Y—” The taller of the pair (with a rather loud and ambitious voice) begins to answer in one of the lost languages you learnt forever ago. They’re taller than you by a couple of inches, and is wearing some pretty funnily revealing clothes. But you don’t get much time to look at them when the shorter one cuts them off.

 “who wants to know, pal?” The shorter asks in it’s deep bass-like voice, using the same language rather defensive-like and angrily. This one’s wearing some pretty casual human looking clothes, a dark blue jumper over a white shirt with basketball shorts and slippers. You can respect a style like that. Comfy is the best way to be.

 You shrug off the hostility as you respond in the likeness of tongue, noting the worried looks you’re getting from the twins on either side of you before you reply. “I am Áine. An ‘older than all y’all’ Biomniso and vicchron, the older than you thing came from an old friend at one point. Also, I’m the teacher and technical godparent to these little troublemakers.” You hold up your captured hands and chuckle, returning to your native language. “What’s it to you skele?”

 The pair look shocked that you spoke in their language, but the shorter one looks more startled. “what’d you mean ‘what’s it to you’? you know who gaster is? y’know our language? you aren’t gonna attack us? No asking what my name is, or why i just walked out of a mountain with these kids of yours?” He sounds incredulous and still rather weary.

 You give him an incredulous and slightly affronted look. “Uhm, well no. I wasn’t planning on attacking you. That’d be rude. As for asking you why you just walked out of the underground… Well, since I know bits and pieces of the story from what I remember of the event, which! I totally blame Gaster for probably making my memories so hard to retrieve purposely so I can’t quite remember the whole thing just yet. But he’s a total dweeb and he totally could have miscalculated the potency of the memory stuff. That or he just knew I’d fight the spell with everything I had so he worked in an extra dosage for me. He would totally do something like that too, the jerk. Anyways, I didn’t think it necessary to ask. Plus, I was going to have my students who actually _aren’t_ my kids explain how they got involved at all. From what I remember, the opening in the human-scape to the underground was in Montana. How _did_ you two get there?” You turn expectantly to the kids, as completely relaxed as you’ve been the whole time.

  ** _Well…_**

 “Eh-heh…” The twins look away awkwardly. “Uhm, teach. Could we, you know. Tell you later?” Chara looks up at you hesitantly.

 You are not impressed. “Give them here.” You let go of their hands and hold them in front of you, hands open and palms up. You apparently had guessed right, since shamefully, each puts a solid glowing white, thin, chalk-like stick into your hands. “I’m disappointed in you both. I told you that these were dangerous and were more likely to get you killed than help you grow as young as you are.”

 “If I might inquire of you,” you look up to see a tall goat woman stepping forward slightly. “Just what are these… things exactly? And why are they so dangerous? Also, you said something about them not going into this ‘human escape’ until they were of 500 years of age? I am sorry, but you have left me rather confused. I was not aware that humans could live for hundreds upon hundreds of years anymore.”

 She’s a graceful one. You also remember her. Oh you totally remember her, she’s a fun one. Ah, but what’s her name again? She’s… A queen! You’re almost there. You just look at her a moment before it comes to your mind. “Princess Toriel!” You giggle and she looks surprised as well as a little confused. “Man it has been way too long! You’re probably Queen Toriel by now though.”

 “I… I am sorry my child, but I do not recall having met you before? Ahm but… you do in fact seem alarmingly familiar.” Her eyes narrow as she thinks while looking you over.

 “Oh that’s probably because of the memory swipe and manipulation. I’ve still got a fair amount of gaps myself.” You shrug but keep grinning anyways. “But I am in no way young enough to be called ‘child,’ kiddo. If it’s this difficult to remember me still, then I doubt that you would have remembered how old I am, nor the times when you used to call me auntie. That is, you would only barely call me as such if you were feeling respectful that day.” You chuckle at her ever confused and maybe a little shocked expression again. “But to answer your questions, these sticks in my hands are called destiny sprigs. If you take one and draw an Arch diagram it’ll take you to a location of significance either from your past, or a larger likely possibility of an important place from your future. These places can be potentially dangerous considering that some might not exist yet or might be inhabited by the less friendly canorals. And I suppose you could come across a third option, but it’s very rare that you’ll find humans at whatever place it might me. These sticks are most commonly used by us of the older generations who want to revisit the massive pivotal locations from their life for one reason or another, and can look after themselves properly while doing so. Clearly for these tiny vicchrones though, they haven’t lived much past fifty and shouldn’t have even _thought about touching these._ ” You glare slightly at the two miscreants for a moment as they kick their feet and find blades of grass to be quite inexplicably interesting for a moment.

 “Hold up!” A loud and scratchy voice shouts from beside the taller skeleton. You notice the tall, blue, fish-like woman with actual red hair pointing at you. “If all of that is true and you’re a vic-whatever, then why are you dressed up like a Mage that has actual style?!” She grins at you triumphantly with her massive and sharp teeth like she just came out triumphant from battle. She reminds you of someone.

 You just stare at her for a couple more seconds before you double over with laughter. Her confident look falters and also becomes a bit confused. “O-oh. Oooh man.” You right yourself and wipe a tear of laughter from your eye. “You must be Undyne! You remind me of your dad. I bet you’re aiming to beat him and become the next royal guard. He always bragged that you’d do that some day. But aside from that, who taught you that silly human word for vicchrones? ‘Mage?’ We’ve only used that kind of foul language as a joke for centuries!” You snort and start to say something else when that short skeleton’s magic spikes dramatically.

 You look over at him and quirk your eyebrow inquisitively. “What’s the big idea, pal?” You mimic him slightly at the end and it suddenly clicks in your mind just who this is. The magical signature should have tipped you off. “Oh hey, you’re Sans, aren’cha?”

 His eye sockets go wide and the heavy magic in the air clears. “how the hell did ya know that-”

 “And you’re Paps! Wait, no. Only your mum and dad called you that. It’s the Great Papyrus isn’t it?” You grin, a little proud of yourself for remembering that. Oh, and now you remember what gender terms they always used. Awesome.

 Papyrus’ eyes actually begin to sparkle and he rushes towards you, scooping you up in a hug, paying no mind you his brother’s ‘wait, paps, don’t just-’ and spins you around. “AND YOU ARE ÁINE! THE COOL NOT-MAGE WORD THAT DAD ALWAYS TOLD US ABOUT IN BEDTIME STORIES!” He practically shouts into your ear before promptly putting you down and giving you a still excited, but kind of stern look all the same. “I WASN’T EVER SURE THAT YOU WERE REAL UNTIL NOW! YOU DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO ALL THOSE DANGEROUS THINGS HE SAID YOU DID, RIGHT?”

 You chuckle at the thought of how Gaster might have told his sons about your more dangerous and sketchy adventures from your youth as bedtime stories. “Erm, I’m sorry Paps, but he was probably telling you the really crazy stories that I told him about from when I was a kid. So… Yeah. I likely did all of what he told you, unless he decided that I would be a good character to use and base made-up stories off of. In that case, then no I probably didn’t to all of what he said I did.”

 “HMM.” The tall skeleton looks you over calculatingly before speaking again. “SO YOU PROBABLY DID GO INTO A NEST OF DEADLY MAGICAL ANIMALS AND DO BATTLE WITH THEM ALL UNTIL THEY ACCEPTED YOU AND YOU WERE ADOPTED BY THEM. AFTER WHICH YOU DECIDED TO LIVE WITH THEM FOR HALF OF A YEAR BEFORE RETURNING TO THE PLACE CALLED STONEARCH. BUT THEN AGAIN DAD MIGHT HAVE BEEN MAKING UP THAT STORY ABOUT YOU! DO I HAVE THAT RIGHT, HUMAN- NO. HUMAN LOOK-ALIKE WHO IS DEFINITELY NOT A MAGE?”

 Your eyes go wide and you blush a little. “Well, yes. But that wasn’t a story that Gaster made up…” You trail off, pushing your hat up a bit and holding onto Indigo rather than putting your hand back at your side. The kids on your sides try to smother their laughter and you nudge them both teasingly with a smile.

 “HUMAN LOOK-ALIKE, THAT WAS VERY DANGEROUS! BUT ALSO VERY BRAVE. ALMOST AS BRAVE AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” He strikes a pose and his red scarf waves in a nonexistent breeze behind him.

 You giggle again. “Thanks Paps.”

 “hey papyrus, uh. would ya mind comin’ to stand by me again bro? i already miss your greatness from here. and, you know i think that i was starting to lose some of my laziness by standing next to you up on the surface.” Sans speaks up and you note, as Papyrus rejoins his brother exclaiming how happy he is that Sans is getting less lazy, how the shorter of the pair is sweating slightly. He still doesn’t trust you huh? What did Gaster _do_ to everyone’s memories? You’ll have to give that nerd a sternum talking to for messing around so much.

 “By the way, where is your dad?” You ask curiously. “I figured he would want to be one of the first ones out here after being stuck for so long.” You’re met with either entirely neutral facial expressions, or ones that tell of extreme sadness. “Okay, what did that endearing dork of a royal scientist do to end up… not here anymore?” You cross your arms and wait for a response.

 “pal, you sure do know a lot for having most of us not remember you. don’t ya see how we might find that a little bit suspicious and… _wrong_?” Sans’ deep voice rumbles through the silence tensely.

 You glare and begin speaking in the universal tongue of ancient magic.

 “One of my friends gave their All and _died_ while opening the barrier, _Sans the Skeleton_ .” Your voice is firm, yet it trembles with the emotion resurfacing from the recent loss. The little dots in his eye sockets disappear as you continue on. “Two more almost died along with her. One no more than a child of a hundred years or so older than the twins, and the other a near life long companion who has saved me more times than I can properly count. They are some of my closest friends and we _knew_ that we were signing up for a possible suicide mission in order to get you all out again.

 ”I was forced to forget about you all for who knows how long and got multiple splitting headaches as sacrifice to remember and detangle mutilated memories of what happened fast enough to get you out on time, in order to ensure that no one in the underground would die an unjust death. I have paid a price of pain, grief, guilt, fear, and loss to stand in front of you as I am in this moment. I will not have you disrespecting the life given and the sacrifices made to free you today Sans.” Your voice is becoming hoarse again as you hold back tears fresh. “At this very moment I am missing the opportunity to help bury my comrade and speak with her spirit once more. Do not question my intentions for being here. There is more than you will ever know to my story.” Your voice initially filled with power, wavers into a pained and tired one that speaks more about your ancient age than any had expected.

 “i... i'm sorry.” He mumbles softly after a moment of silence where your heavy voice echoes in the minds of all present. “i didn't mean to disrespect anything by it... i just can't get a good read on your soul, can't remember ya properly, but you can remember most'a us. it makes me... pretty nervous, ya'know?” He seems pretty tired himself as he sighs. "'m sorry for ya loss."

 He watches you nervously and you sigh, dropping the two sticks in your hand into a ripple in space before folding one arm across your abdomen and the other rubbing at one of your temples. “You're fine. Like you said, you didn't know and it's pretty startling to have a stranger talk to you and your friends like they've known you for years but haven't seen you in forever. I'm sorry for lashing out at you. That was rude and uncalled for. Please forgive me.” You hate being angry. Or just over the top emotional in general. Better to let it work through you and then leave. Besides, being fun and excited the is way better kind of fun person you like to be.

 He looks startled, which matches the expressions of everyone besides the two vicchrones flanking you. They just look sad and lost. Eventually, Papyrus nudges Sans, encouraging him to say something.

 “well, sure kid. i-i mean, áine. i forgive ya. though personally i don't think ya really needed to apologise. losing someone you cared about is... rough. i know that much.”

 You nod, slightly surprised now that you think of it, that he had the guts (oh all the puns you're making right now and you're not even in the mood) to tell you he was trying to get a peek at your soul earlier. You're still somber enough to not really care yet. “We had forgotten that we worked together before whatever... This is.” You wave your hand around you vaguely. “We half remembered just in time for her to... Give her All and leave us behind. We missed who knows how much time because of that.” You sigh softly and summon your trusty and extravagantly decorated walking stick, that you usually use to mock the council, to lean on. You hardly care for the fact that everyone besides your students (who snort quietly at the sudden appearance of the staff) look both shocked and slightly nervous again. Whatever.

 “So to ask again, what happened to my good old partner-in-crime Gaster?”

 “Well wouldn't you like to know, Moldy Mage?” A snarky and multi-toned voice pops up almost beside you from the ground. You're pretty sure that's some kind of child's insult and you glance down with mild amusement to see a yellow flower with six petals smirking up at you. “I bet you think you're real special, having your friend die and saving an entire race of monsters from their own death too, don'cha?” It acts innocent enough, but you honestly have enough years on you that you can read the soulless creature like an open book that reads itself to you.

 “Actually Flowey, or do you prefer Asriel?” You pause a moment to see his shocked and slack expression before continuing on as if nothing changes. _Two can play this game, squirt. And you’re thousand years too young._ ‘No matter. I actually don't feel especially good about myself because of all this. Isn't that funny? Oh golley, but you were expecting to be talking to one of those 'Mages' from warped stories that Gaster fed to you all for one reason or another, weren't you? Well, sorry to disappoint, but I'm no human Mage. I'm an incredibly _ancient_ vicchron who knows more than you could ever. _Possibly_ . _Imagine_.” You smile sweetly down at him and pet his top flower petal. Then with a forged look of surprise for having forgotten something you add: “oh silly me, I forgot to ask! Did you want your soul and body back? Oh dark, angsty, and soulless one.”

 A grin splits your face, bringing your usual energy back as the plant looks up at you, flabbergasted. “Y-you- how did you- what the- HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THAT AND- and... Can you really change me back?” He goes from being incredibly confused, to angry, to timid, then finally shy and somewhat hopeful. All of which you know is mostly him acting. Logically it makes sense to be confused with how much a random stranger knows about you, as well as want your correct body and soul back. So you can see why he's behaving the way he is. Pretending to have emotions, and playing it way over the top. Creatures of habit strive for ‘normalcy.’

 You're about to answer, when Frisk speaks up. You snort at the thought. Frisk. Speaking up. _Frisk doesn't talk_. ... You're probably a terrible person. But it would still make Frisk themselves laugh if you told them that.

  **Yeah! Áine fixed up my soul when Chara and I were messing around and we half reincarnated my soul. It was really messy until she cleaned it all up. She can help you too Asriel!** The kid grins and Chara nods encouragingly.

 You chuckle softly at the memory. The kids were terrified of asking you to fix their mistake, but they were more afraid that Frisk would die an awful death or worse, so they came to you. It wasn't like you had never seen the likes before, plenty of kids accidentally forge spells that get them into trouble. You had done something similar to yourself that almost erased your entire magical signature and potential. But you were always a risky kid who took chances, and you messed around until you found a way to fix yourself back. It turned out be a entirely failsafe way to revert any kind of accidental soul damage and unwanted alterations. You've used it for every crazy soul mishap since. You know it'll work for the flower prince.

 “Are you serious?” The flower looks shocked.

 “for once i agree with the weed. how can it be possible to recreate or resurrect a soul, just like that? like its nothin'?” Sans still sounds weary of you, but intrigued all the same.

 “I-I-I a-am curious-s as w-w-well.” A higher and timid voice speaks out for the first time. You turn your head to see a nervous yellow reptilian canoral with glasses and a lab coat. It takes you a second, but when you get her name you smile.

 “Oh you must be Alphys! It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Doctor Gaster spoke often about you when we would chat. You used to be his apprentice right? Oh he would brag about you as much as he would his sons.” You beam at her and giggle as her scales flush brightly. “Oh I do apologise for embarrassing you. But back to the topic we were addressing before, yes I can help the disfigured prince reconstruct his soul again. It won't hardly be more than a fleeting task anyhow. I mean, considering the fact that he never _actually_ died for real.” You turn back to Asriel. “Are you ready to be Asriel again, Flowey?”

 The flower hesitates, glancing at Frisk and Chara who nod eagerly before sighing in over dramatic defeat. “Fine. But if you mess anything up, you have to give me your soul.” He grins maniacally, expecting you to chicken out while the tension suddenly becomes heavy in the air.

 Still, you chuckle and shrug. “Sure thing Squirt.” Everyone is obviously surprised how easily you agreed, but you don’t really care. For anyone else this might be an incredibly risky bet, besides the fact that you never agreed _when_ you had to give the kid your soul, plus, you’ve been around for so long and done this so many times that you find it hard to believe you wouldn’t get it right first try. So, you proceed to let go of your staff—which stands on its own—and rip him out of the ground, pulling both of your souls out into a workshop with all of your tools and materials. It looks similar to an encounter, but it's accessible to all present and no attacks are allowed unless both sides are in agreement for the sake of healing or improving on a specific skill.

 You smile as your students run over to one of your benches and hoist themselves up onto it to watch. You ignore most everyone else, including the miffed and extraordinarily curious expression on Sans' face as you grab the two glowing sticks you dropped in here earlier and put them in a drawer. Opening a different drawer you then grab out a thinner and less glowing stick of chalk-like substance and casually press it into the outline of Flowey's transparent soul. The flower tries to bite you, clearly thinking of this as some kind of attack and you roll your eyes.

 “Can you not chill for five minutes? Sheesh kid, if you actually thought about it for a moment, you'd realise that this doesn't hurt, and you're actually starting to feel things again.” You set him down on a bench in the middle of the room, leaving the remarkably weightless stick in his soul and letting go of it. “Are you ready to actually call the pieces of your soul back?”

 The flower, stunned from the realisation that he's finally able to ever so slightly feel things again, nods distractedly. “Yeah…” He mumbles with his eyes closed. “I'd... I'd like that.”

 You smile at his open honesty. “One repaired soul coming right up then.” Gently, you activate your raw and formless magic in your left hand, summoning a bottle with a narrow point opening in your right. Before you start anything, you feel Sans' magic fluctuate again, but you pull out his soul directly into the workshop and shut down his feisty magic without even turning to look at him. “Cool it, hot sauce. Can't you see I'm operating here?”

 Without waiting for a reply, which you're sure he was eagerly going to give if you actually cared to listen at the moment, you tenderly touch the swirling and shapeless magic to the stick still poking out of the sad looking empty soul. Sans tenses behind you, and you're sure he's expecting the flower to cry out in pain or something, but you can tell that he is ultimately shocked when Asriel just sighs contently and relaxes. The pieces of his soul fading into existence around the shimmering outline of his empty shell. Once you know that all of the pieces have been summoned and collected, you release the magic from your hand and maintain it on the stick so you can use your left hand's dexterity to put the pieces back together like a puzzle so they fit back right. No need to accidentally warp the kid's soul in a different way than before when you're healing, right?

 At this point as you ever so gently piece the shattered soul back together, you become acutely aware that the small group of canorals that emerged with Frisk and Chara are all huddled around you and the workspace, watching intently. You smile a little, then smirk as you sense Sans watching you work from behind your shoulder. You can feel him trying to analyse your soul at the same time as watching you work, and you decide that he's never had to be very subtle about this before because it's like he's attempting to ram his way in to read your stats.

 You find yourself mildly happy that you can remember what stats are at this point. It certainly has been a while.

 As you continue working and barring Sans from reading your soul—which you know he finds frustrating beyond all belief, since he's not being subtle about how his soul is feeling while it's pulled out in here—you begin to hum to yourself softly. It's not something uncommon for you to do, but it is a song you still don't normally hum. You realise now that it's because you taught it to Gaster forever ago. Stupid Gaster for making you forget almost everything. That jerk. As you finish putting the soul's pieces back together and push it into the empty shell, you poise your right hand, readying the bottle it's holding to magically seal the pieces together and jumpstart the magic within to kick back into gear. Vaguely you realise that Sans isn't peeking over your shoulder any more, nor is he trying to peek at your soul. He's now just standing next to you and watching you work quietly. According to his soul, he recognises the tune. Gaster must have also sung it while he worked. It was the only song the poor guy could ever sing in key after all.

 When you're sure that the soul fits in the shell perfectly, you drip a murky and silvery liquid along the cracks of the newly reorganised soul, and watch happily as the cracks disappear and heal themselves, the originally blank white pieces of soul beginning to look much more alive and warm now. Much less 2D. You think to yourself and nod approvingly as you finish, pulling out the rod within the soul easily and standing back as you watch the child's body reform to become much more like that of his mother Toriel's. When his body stabilises again, you carefully push his soul back into his body without touching it, and smile satisfied with your work as the young prince sleeps. You pick him up gently, absentmindedly beginning to push San's damaged soul back into his own body. But he stops you. Before it can enter his body again, he stops you and you turn to look at him, the child wrapped in your arms with body curled up and his head resting on your collar bone underneath your chin. “Yes Sans?” You ask softly so you don't wake Asriel who needs the sleep to allow his soul to regulate the magic recovery.

 “i. um. well, i was wondering if maybe you could, uhm, help me out too.” He looks incredibly awkward and embarrassed, even though you're pretty sure no one else can see it through his casual and lazy facade.

 As an afterthought, you notice that he's kept his soul hidden from everyone else that's still outside. You look him over for a minute, then nod with a quick whisper. “Let me just get this kid back, then I'll take a look at you.” You smile, then pause and snort, muttering quietly to yourself. "Kid. He's literally a goat child. Oh man I'm not doing half bad for a crazy day."

 Without another word, you leave the workroom and pass Asriel to a silently crying Toriel. Her smile as wide and as tender as could be, she cradles her son in her arms and whispers a quiet thank you. It's more than enough for you. You're glad to see the reunited.

 But you've still got work to do. Snagging your joke of a staff, you jump back into your workroom where Sans is quietly waiting and watching his friends interact with quiet and often barely contained excitement for the return of the estranged prince. "Hey." You catch his attention and give him a quirky smile. “I'm guessing you wanted this to be a bit more private, right?”

 He looks a bit surprised at your observant comment, but nods with a low chuckle. “welp. looks like i can't get anything past you. is that something you can do though?” He asks in what you think must be his quietest and most tired tone of deep voice yet.

 “Yeah,” you smile and shrug. “Privacy is something I'm pretty good at keeping when I'm working with patients.” You turn to your students. “You heard the bag of bones. I'll be kicking you out for this one. Play nice and look after everyone alright? Make sure no one tries to leave, since I'm pretty much the one in charge and have the only ticket out.” The pair nods and slips off of the counter, vanishing along with everyone else from the underground. You turn your attention the the amulets next. “That includes you lot as well. Off you pop”"

 'Awwe. Really? Do we have to?' White whines. You chuckle, it’s kind of nice being able to hear White’s voice outside of your head.

 “Uhm, of course you do, White. Just because you are made up of a collaboration of monster magic including Gaster's does not mean you have the right to spy on his son. I'll call you three back when I'm finished, alright?”

 'Okay.' Green speaks up softly. You make sure to give her a soft magic hug of comfort as she leaves. She didn't just lose a friend today. She lost the only parent she could have only dreamed of knowing and meeting for so long. She has it rougher than you. 

'Yes mum.' Indigo blushes again, even though his comment was mostly sarcastic this time around. You chuckle and kiss the top of his crystal.

“Play nice with the other kids, Bean Sprout.” You tease him and watch as his crystal glows brighter. He gets out of there as quickly as he can, and you can tell that he's totally flustered right now. You chuckle and turn back to pat White on the head. “You know, I bet after this is finished, Sans would be willing to chat with you for a bit. You can borrow some of his or another monster's energy to feel a bit more like yourself. I know that my magic is flexible, but it's not always like the real deal.”

White seems to hesitate, even though it seems excited at the prospect of getting real monster magic finally. But their voice still wavers in your workspace as they make their fears known. ‘You... You aren't going to disappear if I leave, right? I'm going to be able to see you as soon as you're done. We're all going to. Right?’

You look softly at the gem and pull it into your hands carefully. "I'll be here the whole time, and you'll see me come back as soon as Sans and I finish up. I promise." The amulet seems to silently accept your answer before leaning into your touch, then vanishing from the room. 

 "There." You smile at Sans. "All cleared out. Just for you."

 He blushes a little and chuckles nervously. "uhh, thanks. a lot. but, uhm, quick question if that's alright with you."

 You shrug. “Shoot.”

 "were those... gem thingies, your kids or something? do other, ah, 'vicchrones' look like that?" He asks a little too fast for it to sound as carefree as he was dearly aiming for.

 You snort with laughter—something truly unattractive and probably not appropriate to do in a situation where a skeleton nervously asks you slightly off topic questions since he's too nervous to ask you the real questions he wants to ask you—then you collect yourself. "Nah. All vicchrones are humanoid. The amulets are special cases, but they're not actually my kids. Well, one of them is technically my kid since he grew consciousness out of my magic that was continually being fed to the flirty smooth talker. That's Indigo by the way. Then I kind of adopted White because it felt right and no one else had the right magical signature that could at least harmonise with them to keep them alive besides myself. But then apparently I was the godmother of Green whose mother died the same day she met her." You sigh softly, sadness lacing your voice. "She deserves much better than me to raise her. They all do."

 Sans just looks at you for a moment, masking his surprise at your honest and slightly saddening answer with curiosity. You can tell that he's surprised that you so easily gave him a straight answer and how brutally honest you were at the end. He really needs to reign in his soul a bit, he's basically force feeding you how he feels at this point. So before he can say another word, you speak again. "So what was it that you really wanted to ask, boneboy?"

 He stiffens a little, then forces himself to relax. "heh. you can read me like a book too then huh?"

 You snort again. "No. You're basically force feeding me how you feel right now. It’s actually more difficult than not to ignore what you're essentially thinking here."

 He blushes bright blue. Oh that is too funny. Plus he's got no finesse as he tries to wrap up his soul a bit so you're not constantly reading him.

 He fails spectacularly. You laugh.

 He blushes even more, but this time there's a little bit more than the mortified embarrassment. There's just a hint of curiosity in there too. Interesting.

 “So,” you begin as you lay down after regulating your breathing a bit. “Are you finally going to ask me why I'm not freaking out about how you monsters look, or are you going to keep beating around the bush embarrassingly for another hour or so?” You ask casually.

 He flushes again, a little darker this time. “so you knew huh? why didn't you just answer me then?”

 “You're doing it again, but I'll humour you nevertheless. I did it because 1. it's not very nice to only hold half of a conversation out loud unless you are on the phone, and 2. making you flustered enough to flush blue was too good a chance to pass up.” You smirk as his blush remains fully intact and he looks anywhere but at you. Relenting a bit from the teasing, you give him the actual last reason. “But 3. I don't give answers to unasked questions as a general rule. If there is something you want to ask me to get an answer, then you had better want to ask me enough to say it out loud.”

 He finally looks over at you, another look of mild surprise accompanied by a newfound respect. "oh." Wow. That's really eloquent.

 "Yup. So I'm not going to answer until you ask." You continue lounging on the smooth work table without a care in the world, just relaxing and humming softly to yourself.

 He chuckles beside you and sighs, laying back next to you. "... hey áine."

 "Yeah Sans?"

 "knock knock."

 You giggle and grin a bit. "Well, who is there?"

 "acorn."

 "'Acorn' who?"

 "acorn not understand why you didn't panic at the sight of us monsters. could ya explain it in a way so acorn get the picture, please?" He asks it softly, as though you would turn him away for not just asking such a simple question from the beginning.

 You giggle at the joke.

 Your giggle becomes a laugh.

 And soon enough he's laughing along with you.

 "Pfft. Acorn. Freaking acorns. What the heck, acorns are so dumb they need little hats to grow on top of them. And they still lose them!" You tell him all this amid the full laughter you can't bring yourself to even attempt to tame.

 He makes a 'snirk' sound in the middle of a laugh that makes him cough, wheeze, then laugh again. It makes you laugh even harder. "y-y'know. tha's a pretty mean thing ta say, pal. maybe they grow their hats on to them so they don't feel like it's so strange to wear them. then w'en they grow up, they c'n get rid a’ that and show everyone that they’re adults now. plus! plus, they don’t have hands." You're both still tittering with laughter, both comfortable, and both not minding trying to make sure that the other is doing the right thing or isn't over thinking anything. You note how he realises this too and thinks it nice.

 You think it's nice how much of an open book he still is.

 "Well." You sigh contently, the laughter fading away comfortably on its own leaving you just happy. "Back to your question of why I didn't go after you all with pitchforks or something, which was a really weird thought for you to have by the way, I didn't do it because I interact with canorals of every size, shape, colour, and personality pretty much everyday. It's what I do. I help keep peace between different clans and relocate those whose homes are being destroyed by humans. I know thousands of languages at this point just for the sake of being able to help them all out.

 “So at the end of the day, you lot are the tamest looking canorals I've ever seen." You shrug and wait lazily for his response. Which you don't really have to wait long for.

 He chuckles. "Well thanks? I'm not sure if I should be insulted you don't think I have a hot bod, or relieved that we aren't going to scare the living day lights out of the general populace."

 You snort with laughter again. "Sans. There's no way you can have a hot bod. First of all, you're just a bag of bones. And second, doesn't all heat just _go right through you?_ " You laugh again at your own joke, not really expecting the fullest laugh you've heard yet break out of him like there was no way he could hold it back even if he wanted to. You think that the deep, full laugh, suits him. As well as the easy smile he maintains while he's laughing like this. It's better than his forced grin that you first encountered him with.

 Ah. But back to the reason you're both hanging out in your magical workspace locked in a half pocket dimension that overlaps with multiple layers of reality. "Okay, bud." You sit up and pop your back quickly which makes Sans stiffen uncomfortably, but also blush a little. "Opes. My bad. I didn't think to much about that one. Sorry." You jump off the table and turn to face him, waving him back when he also tries to get off the bench. "Nah, just stay there. You're not going to want to be on your feet for this anyways."

 He pauses, then shrugs. "yeah. you're probably right."

 "Nah," you grin. "I'm more than just parabola-y right. I am as definitely right as the square root of pi. Since that never goes into the negatives. You can never go wrong with graphing you know."

 He snorts. "uh-huh. sure kiddo."

 You roll your eyes and smirk. "Mhm. Of course I am. Although I'm most definitely not a kid for any meaning of the word besides my occasional dip in maturity level." You grin and he mumbles something about 'sorry' and 'a habit.' Not that you actually got offended by the comment. It's just a little weird. "Aaaaanyways, you ready to get this soul healing process on a roll?"

 He sweats a little bit, but nods anyways. "yeah. let's just get this over with."

 You pull his soul closer to you and pretend to pout. "What's this? And here I thought you enjoyed my company Sans."

 Clearly he's had no one besides those flirty kids to really banter with―who you taught well in that specific art form, thank you very much―and he's grasping at straws here, blushing profusely and stammering.

 Oh that's honestly just too funny and adorable. You cut him off though, before he can say something too embarrassing. You're just that nice. "I was kidding Sans." He stiffens at that and blushes even darker which makes you chortle a little. "Anyways," your tone shifts to something less light and playful. "You kind of really need to know that I am going to need to touch your soul to fully heal some of these gashes and cracks. I think you know what happens when you touch a person's soul for healing right?"

 He nods, also being very serious. "yeah. you see some memories usually."

 You nod, but frown a little. "Yes. Well, I happen to be a better healer than most, which means I'm also a little more sensitive during the healing. I'll be blunt with you here Sans. Chances are that I'll see exactly what happened when you got each and every one of these. I'll block them out as much as I can if that's what you'd like, but I can only withstand so much when it's up close and personal one on one healing. Are you still sure you want me to do this?"

 He regards you solemnly for a moment in silence. Then he nods slightly. "i trust ya. it's just... you probably don't wanna see how I got most of these. so if you ever want to just stop, don't worry about me. a'right?"

 You raise an eyebrow. You've had your suspicions all along, but he's just about confirmed it this time. "Sans, pardon me while I get a bit sternum with you here, but I need you tibia honest with me here. You have to fully patella the truth, you understand?"

 He chuckles at your puns, a bit more relaxed than before. "whatever you like pal."

 "Promise me?" You ask softly and he really meets your eyes, his posture straightening.

 "... look kid- pal. i, i don't do promises very often. i don't like 'em much. can't always keep 'em y'know? an' i don'-"

 "Sans." You speak clearly and force him to keep his eye-lights locked on yours. "I know. That's why I'm asking."

 You watch as he tries. He tries his hardest to look away from you. But he can't. He wants more than everything in the world to this very moment, get away from telling you what he knows you're not going to like. What he's sure you're going to think when he's done. But he can't. He knows he can't. Not that he's trapped, but that there is no other way.

 With a sigh he relents. "... sure pal. can't say no to someone who likes bad puns and jokes. That's a person with the kind of integrity you just can't say no to." He chuckles and glances down at your strange, ever changing textured soul. "heh. there's irony in that statement i'd never even thought about till now." He wanders off softly.

 His wandering comments don't deter you. With a sad kind of smile, you ask the question you know he's dreading having to answer. "It was Frisk and Chara. Wasn't it?"

 He closes his eyes and just sighs with a slouch, resigned to his fate of having to tell you. "yup."

 "And they probably did a lot of very bad things. Correct?"

 "yeeeeup."

 "And they did it over and over again."

 "yeah- wait how did you-?" His eyes snap open in shock. It's interesting how his eye lights disappear when he's either shocked, threatened, and probably when he's being threatening. "how could you possibly know that?" He whispers and his voice wavers.

 You shrug. "I'm their teacher. They're my students and apprentices. I know more about what they are capable of than they might ever realise about themselves. And I've been around a lot longer than they can imagine."

 "... right. and how old does that make ya?" He's really curious now, but still shocked enough to be so carelessly blunt. You laugh and he blushes all over again. "shit, sorry! sorry I didn't, I wasn't trying to be-"

 You cut him off with a wave of your hand and shake of your head. "Nah don't worry about it. It's not like I'm offended or something. I just think it's great that you're so blunt about stuff sometimes. It suits you better than your usual sneaky 'I'm totally super lazy and chill and I'm totally not actually OCD and a total control freak' facade that you try to keep up."

 He just looks at you with a slack jaw. "Oh come now Sans, everyone else might be oblivious to it, but you're almost easier to read than your father. Although, he was never quite as uptight as you are."

 "are you kidding me?" Sans rolls his eyes and huffs. "that guy was more closed off and secretive about everything than I've ever been! how in the- _stars_ , how am _I_ on par with being as easily read as him? he was almost a literal stone wall at times."

 You giggle at how exasperated he's becoming. "Sans. You innocent youth. Don't you know that _those who have more to hide are easier to read_?"

 He just stares at you with empty sockets. "... so how much do you really already know, pal?" His voice is quiet again.

 You shrug calmly. "You're in a lot of pain Sans. Your soul is literally on display for healing here. I know almost everything through feeling alone. Sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable. I don't mean to pry into this too much without your permission, but the stronger and more recent the pain, the more I can feel it. I don't know the specifics, but if I touch your soul to heal it, I will know everything. That is the reality of this situation, Sans the Skeleton."

 His eye lights fade back in slowly and he just looks at you. You know what he's doing. He's analysing you. Well, he's trying his best without being able to access your soul. He doesn't understand something about you and your reaction, so he's trying to make sense of you. So, you sit calmly and just watch him right back. You see the moment that he realises you know what he's doing, when he realises you've noticed every time that he tried to hack into your soul. He looks shocked, then mortified, then embarrassed, then curious. His curiosity seems to outweigh everything else. You smile.

 "Finished? Have you figured me out yet, or are you trying to think of ways to pull answers out of me?" You smirk when he almost jumps at your response.

 He sighs then chuckles dryly. "honestly. who the hell even are you? ya show up as soon as we get out an' give a good talking to the kids right in front of a bunch of strangers. You scared everyone and we were all about ta full out attack when you marched over to them, y'know? thought you were one of the evil mages that trapped us from the stories. but ya just told them off for disappearing for forty years. We all just assumed they were eight year old humans because they kinda looked the part and they were wearing stripes. though i s’pose that’s more of our own fault for never really ask’n ‘em." That thought about ‘because they are wearing stripes they must be kids’ almost makes you laugh. But you maintain your lightly amused 'yes, I'm listening' face for Sans' sake. "but even after that and we see that the kids trust you, you still look like our worst nightmares became reality. i mean," he suddenly looks all flustered and embarrassed. "not that you look bad or anything. you’re actually really pretty. i mean, you just," he starts stammering something else out and you just start laughing. His face is already deep blue and he pulls his hood up to try and hide his face from view.

 "Sorry Sans, I'm not really laughing at you," you choke out in your glee. "It's just that you care so much about what other people think of you that it's like you don't know how to deal with me. It's adorable."

 He grumbles at this, keeping his hood pulled over as much of his face as possible. "but ya knew what i meant. you always know apparently." He mumbles that last part like you're not meant to hear it.

 "Oh of course I did!" Your grin becomes a little sly as you tug him forward ever so slightly that it pulls him off balance and he falls off of the work table. You catch him in your arms as he falls with a triumphant smirk. His hood falls back and he looks at you in shock. "I just didn't think you'd be falling for me so soon."

 It takes him a moment, but he laughs when he gets it. "oh man did you just-? you totally set yourself up for that one. an’ i didn't even see it comin'!" He snorts, then looks up at you wide eyed. "Wait, you're the really are the reason that frisk and chara flirt so much? You taught them to make moves on everyone they meet?"

 You set him back on the open work table and raise an eyebrow. "They didn't _actually_ flirt with everyone they met in the underground did they?"

 Sans shakes his head. "nope. just everyone besides jerry. but no one likes him."

 He laughs as you hold your head in your hands. "Oh my gosh. That's all on them. I taught those twins to be confident with meeting new people, and how sometimes flirting with someone is enough to get them to laugh and break the ice a bit. But I said that it was more of a approach you shouldn't use too often, nor take it too seriously... _Ice-y_ that I'll have to give them another talking to. They'll tell me I'm _cold hearted_ but hopefully I won't get _snow_ attitude and dodge getting the _cold shoulder_ . Still, they _lava_ me _snow_ much after all this time that _shovel-ly_ they'll listen and be over it soon enough." You're mostly talking to yourself at this point, but when you look up again, Sans is grinning wider than you ever thought could be possible. And are... _Are those stars in his eye lights?_

 "that," he begins, eye sockets practically sparkling, "was _pun-derful_."

 “Oh. Uhm, thanks.” You chuckle and scratch the back of your neck. “Well, we do need to get started if we are going to get any healing done today. So one last question.”

 He nods and raises a brow bone at you, still grinning. “ _shoot_.”

 You roll your eyes. _What a copycat_. “Do you trust me?”

 He just looks at you for a moment, trying to drum up a conclusion. “Well,” he begins thoughtfully. “it’s strange, and i don’t know why i’m suddenly so comfortable around ya, but i am. i trust ya, áine.” He’s clearly got more to say than that, but you both know that many others are still waiting for you to get them out of here.

 “Thank you.” You smile gently and cup his soul once more with your hands, not touching it yet, just holding it in place.

 “ah, one more thing before we start?” Sans sweats a little again and you look up. “well, there’s a lot of bad stuff that happened down there. in the underground. plenty more bad times than i would like to remember, but i don’t blame the kids for it anymore. we made our peace a while ago. an’,” He looks away from you for a moment, trying to formulate the right words, but after a moment clearly gives up and decides to just ask you straight. “can you let me see or at least tell me what’s goin’ on with your soul? it’s jus’ so… _strange._ y’know?”

 You raise an eyebrow at him. “Your boldness is quite admirable. Just be careful you don’t get yourself into trouble that way. Most people will shun you for a while if you ask them that kind of question, or if they can feel that you’re peeking at their soul. But I’m fine to show you some stuff and answer some questions.” You shrug again. You seem to be doing that a lot recently. Then again, a lot has gone down in the past twenty-four hours.

 He nods and you take the way he doesn’t say any more as your cue to get started. You move to sit next to him and take one of his boney hands with your right hand and give it a squeeze. Carefully, you press the index finger of your left hand to the largest and deepest gash in his soul. Go big or go home right?

He gasps and squeezes your hand back, much tighter than you did his. After sending him a calming magic to sedate him a little bit so that his body won't attempt to move around and reenact the memory, you jump into the traumatic event after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ ¡hola! 
> 
> You are amazing!
> 
> Thanks for reading. Ü
> 
> Leave a comment and let me know what you think. :•)
> 
> ~pS ]


	5. Pain, Pain, Be Healed Someday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You take a look at San's experience in the Underground and healing commences. You find more damage has never been dealt. All the same, you aim to heal completely.
> 
> But then again, Sans is still fun to tease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter fought me every step. So to show it up, I wrote my longest chapter yet. (¬u¬)
> 
> It gets pretty intense at the beginning but starts to lighten up towards the end.
> 
> [Also, quick question. Would anyone like a chapter split with both Áine and Sans' POV? Let me know what you think. (ˆ∂ˆ)]
> 
> I hope you enjoy! (^u^)

**_He gasps and squeezes your hand back, much tighter than you did his. After sending him a calming magic to sedate him a little bit to keep his body from reenacting the memory, you jump into the traumatic event after him._ **

 

_‘it’s the first time. I wasn’t ready. no one was._

  _not for a pair of children running on a rampant murder spree._

  _aren’t kids supposed to be innocent?_

_i watched them at first, giving them the benefit of the doubt. they didn’t seem so bad at first. scared, but not showing signs of being violent._

  _i should have noticed then. when i first met them._

  _they had dust all over their clothes._

  _i watched them kill my brother. the dirty brother killers. paps was all i had left after gaster vanished into the oblivion that is the void._

  _i hate this. i shouldn’t hate though. monsters aren’t supposed to be capable of hate. maybe there’s something wrong with me? are you the anomaly, or am i?_

  _no, I don’t care. if there’s something wrong with me, then that’s just another shitty fact to add to the pile._

  _they killed the only person left i truly cared about. that gave me any kind of purpose in life._

  _i don’t have space for mercy in my heart._

  _heh._

  _well, it probably helps that I don’t have a heart in the first place._

  _that kid and ghost of a twin are going to have a  B A D  T I M E .’_

 You wander through the memory as Sans runs through it in his mind. You know that he’s conscious of you being there to some degree. You can tell that he realises in part that this is just a memory. But the reality of it and the fact that he relives it again and again later on makes it hard to escape.

 You know that he will ask for your hand if he needs to be pulled out of the memory and just watch with you.

 So for now, you wait, and you watch each death your students cause; each death they find themselves subject to, only to bring themselves back start the fight over. You feel each and every emotion that Sans recalls, although you think he’s trying to tone it down for your sake. He’s a kind one, considering what he’s been through.

 But you heal each memory as the clips reel past. Because Sans does not deserve this kind of traumatic pain. You show him that he can share with you each and every moment in this place. All of the pain he feels, all of the anger, all of the ways he wishes he could kill the kids.

 You know he needs to acknowledge the fact that all of these feelings were real at one point, and let them go. They aren’t helping him anymore. That’s the first step.

 You travel with him, watching the terrifying kids from the shadows mostly until they get to a bright yellow hall. Frisk walks around as usual, big eyes closed; while Chara on the other hand has clearly opted to use his ghosting magic to float beside his sibling and do what you guess would be help Frisk dodge and scare off anyone from attacking using his creepy face.

 Sans jumps in front of them and basically begs them to stop, in his own way. Well, as much as he can while still enraged, bloodlust pouring off of him like an eternal spring.

 Then he kills them. Over and over again.

  _‘i just stand in the shadows of one of these ridiculously massive golden pillars and wait. they’ll be back here any minute now. all i can do is sit back for the kid and it’s ghost to show up._

  _‘“why can’t it all just be over and done with? die and stay dead already.” i sigh, exhausted. “i can’t keep killing you both like this. i... i can’t keep killin’ kids.” tears start dribbling down my face again. they’ll be here any minute. an’ it’ll all start over again._

 He sounds so broken. Watching this hurts your heart to the point that it begins to affect your soul. But you keep watching, because no one deserves to be alone as he’s been in this whole ordeal. You will watch, and you will understand what kind of horrors he has had to face while at the mercy of your ignorant students. You will help him heal, if it is the last thing you accomplish in this life.

 You keep watching and healing him, just as you have the all along. This fighting seems to end with their deaths, then reload, then restart. The process lasts for what you’re sure adds up to literal years for how many times over they repeat this battle.

 Until they kill him.

 That’s when he taps out. While keeping you both in the memory, you take his present consciousness out of his past self. He hugs you, shaking, and burying his head in your shoulder like you’re the only thing that could hold him together.

 You hug him back and silently disagree. He’s been much stronger than you think you ever could be, if your places were swapped. He has fought for what he thought was right, even though it hurt him to do so.

 You’ll be sure to tell him when you go back out. He deserves to know at least that much.

 But then the scene changes from the blindingly bright golden hallway. He wakes up in his house in Snowdin again. Everyone is alive like nothing ever happened. And he’s so confused. He wonders if maybe it was just a bad dream. Everything is fine and dandy again.

 Or it is until he meets them on patrol again weeks later. This time, the kids are kind, and they beg for his forgiveness. They explain how Flowey lead them to believed that it really was ‘kill or be killed’ in the underground. They apologize over and over again. He tells them he can’t forgive them just yet. You see how it hurts them, but they don’t seem too surprised. Still, he tells them that if they can keep being good and show through their actions that they’re willing to be true to their word and not kill anymore, then he’ll try. He’ll try to forgive them for killing him and everyone they ever crossed paths with down here.

 They accept that as the best that they can get for now, and understand his stand-offish approach to them. They tried to kill him over and over for what must have been years now.

 Together, the pair of you speed through all of the times that they make it to Asgore, solving the conflict without violence, just like every other monster they’ve encountered, only to be thrown back to the beginning, by no means of their own. You learn though, that monsters in the royal guard specifically (but everyone in general) have been tasked with killing any human that comes down to the underground and giving their soul to king Asgore so they can break the barrier.

 You would never have thought that Asgore would resort to killing children.

 The thought sickens you. You really had thought better of the king that you once knew when he was just a kid princeling.

 The pun doesn’t make you smile like it used to. But you hold back your feelings from spilling into Sans’ healing experience so you can avoid the risk of altering the process and messing it all up for him.

 So you focus back in on your students and see their resolve to get everyone out and make sure there are no loose ends, build stronger. Despite the confusing and consistent failed conclusions. You also note that the biggest gash in San’s soul was fully healed over with just the barest of scar tissue a while ago. With a quick magical inspection, you find that so far you’ve covered the majority of nicks that were visible to the naked eye. The rest of this is just mild bruising and Sans opening up, almost completely.

 With a smile you focus back in on the memory that’s currently playing. Your students are working hard enough to get even San’s help eventually, once he see’s the pair genuinely frustrated one day while at Grillby’s.

 “i walked in and saw them huddled over in a booth.” Sans suddenly begins to narrate beside you in his low baritone voice. “i wasn’t expecting to see them there, they were never in snowdin at this point in time; always in hotland or waterfall instead. so i got worried that maybe they were planning on going back on their promise. back on their word that there would never be another genocide run. so i meandered over and sat down with ‘em. asked the-silent-but-always-flirty and the-mysteriously-and-eternally-sassy what was going on.” You chuckle at his choice of nicknames to differentiate one from the other.

 Technically, he’s not wrong.

 You both watch as Sans in the memory sits down with them, just as the one now watching here with you promised.

 _‘“what are ya still doin’ here kiddos?” i look between them and notice their hesitant glance at each other._ this might not end well… _i tense a bit and they both notice. the pair of ‘em have gotten pretty good at reading me by this point._ that’s kinda worrisome. _chara finally sighs, slouching a lot like i do when there’s some news to be shared. it’s not nearly as terrifying to talk with the kid when he’s not using that creepy as hell demon-face thing._ i can totally handle whatever’s about to go down.

  _‘“Well, we’ve been thinking.”_ oh shit. that’s never good. _chara waves his hands in front of himself quickly, irritation clear. “Whoa there! Sheesh we haven’t even said anything yet and you’re already planning on dunking us!” he whisper shouts and rolls his eyes. frisk frowns sadly and sighs. they look pretty glum now that i notice it._

  _‘“s’ry.” i say gruffly. “it’s just you two make me… nervous when ya don’t keep to schedule. i’ll try ta listen without freakin’ out at ya both till the end, alright? no promises besides that.”_

  _‘frisk smiles slightly and lifts their open hand from the chin, pulling it down in an arc until it stops, palm up and parallel to the ground._ **_Thank you._ **

  _‘chara rolls his eyes and scoffs. “Yeah, no. It’s called a common courtesy to wait until someone’s_ finished talking _—yes, thank you for paying attention, you wait your turn—to freak out at them. Comedian over here has been around long enough to know that. Don’t coddle the eternally uptight skeleton, Frisk.”_

  _‘i begin to say something but pause and chuckle slightly as frisk elbows their ghostly brother in the side on my behalf and signs something about being nice and not rude._

  _‘“Anyways, as I was saying.” i tune back in as chara finally pushes frisk’s cheekily grinning face away from them and holds their hands still. “We were thinking that there’s something that we’re still missing. Some kind of… loose end so to speak. There might even be more than one. And that’s why we can’t get out of what ever kind of barrier this is. This is the eighty-fifth reset that Frisk and I haven’t set up. This loop keeps going no matter what we’ve changed about how we challenge, fight, and spare Asgore. Nothing has worked by changing the method of strategically altering the final fight. It doesn’t work, so we have been thinking of other possibilities. This is the best option that we’ve come up with.” that…_ that doesn’t sound like to bad of an idea actually, now that i think about it. so why are they in here talking about it with so many people around? _“But.” chara picks up again. “It’s not like we can just talk to anyone about this, since you’re the only one here who for some reason, remembers it all. But we also can’t just talk about this out in the open where that trickster Flowey could potentially be listening in.”_ oh. _i think in mild surprise._ that is actually pretty clever of them to remember and incorporate their own lie.’

 “frisk and chara had explained to me when they apologised after the first reset why they had fought everyone.” Sans speaks up again as the group in his soul’s memory begin talking about the possibilities of loose ends that need fixing. “didn’t think much of their explanation at the time, considering the fact that they had been trying to kill me for the… whatever the number of times it was they had been trying to off me before they finally managed it. there was no one in the underground that i don’t know, even if the lady on the other side of the door i don’t know by face. Their story about a talking yellow flower that attacked them and told them the underground was all about ‘kill or be killed’ just didn’t sound viable. no monster down here is like that. no monster i could think of would ever tell a couple of kids some blatant lie like  that either. that’s just not the way monsters are. tho, ‘s not like i ever even noticed how the two anomalies were fighting like terrified, cornered animals that first time ‘round. ‘s not like i ever took th’ time to see how both kids looked like they were trying to out live and survive some kind of war waged against _them_ specifically.

 “anyways, it was after this conversation that i started noticing a yellow dot that’d pop up and follow them here and there.” He glares at his past self and sighs. “I was stupid not to a’least give their story the benefit of the doubt when i saw how open and honest they’re bein’ with every monster they encountered. my grudge at a couple ‘a kids almost got us all killed at the very end when it all actually mattered.”

 You jump back into watching the memories, noting that there have been several timelines entirely reset already.

 _‘i started going ahead of the kids again to see if there’s any kind of conflict or puzzle that they might need to help or complete._ it’s butter than sitting around waitin’ for nut-tin i guess. _i chuckle quietly at my own lonesome pun while lazily scoping out potential ‘loose ends.’ when i make my way to waterfall, i spot a yellow flower amongst the blue echo flowers. huh._ i know for a fact that yellow flowers don’t belong here. maybe this one is one of those loose ends…? _I shrug and wander on over to take a closer look. “well, would you look at that. a yella’ flower in waterfall. that’s hilarious. wonder where it came from.”_

  _‘“You do know I can hear you, right?” the flower turns around to look right at me. wasn’t expecting that, but it’s not like i learned how to hold a poker face no matter what for no reason. th’ only think that makes me flinch any is the breif moment where..._ i could’a sworn this flower was wearin’ a creepier face than chara. real sinister-like too. ...meh, probably nothing but the light. _i shrug it off and just smile down at the funny little flower._

  _‘i still feel like something is just a little bit off though. something here in this picture just isn’t right._

  _‘“well i do now, don’t i?” with a chuckle i shrug lazily and casually close an eye socket. “who are you anyways? don’t think i’ve seen ya in waterfall before. ‘m pretty sure i’d know if you were a resident.”_

  _‘“Oh golly,” the flower puts a leaf over it’s mouth in what seems like… overly innocent surprise. But hold up…_ where have i heard that phrase before? _“I never introduced myself did I? Well, howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower! It’s nice ta meet ‘cha!” Flowey bobs his head to the side and winks enthusiastically._

  _‘something still feels off about this whole thing…’_

 The memory speeds through the other times that Sans encounters this soulless flower, until everything blinks and you are suddenly watching your students from far away. You see the moment they find the way to spare and get past Asgore and as they walk to the point where everything usually resets and take a step further. They wait anxiously, fingers crossed that the timeline doesn’t reset. After a minute, they grin widely, hug ecstatically, then run hand in hand towards you, down the last corridor they’ve never yet made it to before now. When they walk into the darkened room, the air seems to freeze around them and they see Flowey pop up right in front of them.

 You take a moment and question why the perspective of this is so strange. Usually you’re watching from afar, still on ground level. This time though, you’ve been lifted about a foot off the ground so that you’re just handing in the air, looking down from the darkest place in the room.

 That’s when you notice that you’ve reached a newer, but equally large as the first, gash in Sans’ soul. It was on the back so you didn’t see it, but it’s almost as big as the first one you touched. Whatever comes next is going to be huge.

 Huge enough that Sans who is standing besides you is shaking. Badly.

 Activating the more advanced techniques of your healing abilities, you begin to soothe the cracked gash and hold out your hand to the present Sans standing next to you in this memory. It’s optional for him to take it, but your posture openly says that you want nothing more than to help him, and if you can, keep him safe and protected from his own nightmares that he doesn’t feel he can handle.. If he wants to face this on his own, he may and you won’t stop him. But you are here to help him pull his own pieces back together and to be the adhesive to keep him in one piece that never falters.

 He takes one look at you; you know he sees you as tall, confident, and safe. It takes him less than a second to grab your hand and pull you close enough to hug again. Your presence is a clearly welcomed relief in the midst of his own emotional anxiety.

 You hug him back and hum again absently as you watch Flowey transform into some grotesque abomination by absorbing six human souls without one full soul of his own. He's got Sans, Papyrus, Toriel, Alphys, Undyne, and Asgore as hostages wrapped in vines behind himself. He's whispering things to each of them to break their spirits as he fight, and he nearly completely breaks them all to dust. You listen a little closer and you suddenly understand what he’s doing.

 He's corrupting them.

 You hold Sans a bit closer.

 The twins keep fighting the flower until something finally snaps and he changes form once again, screaming something about being a ‘god of absolute hyperdeath’ or something ridiculous like that.

 But he looks older than the Asriel whose soul you patched up. This guy is… well, your students clearly think he’s a looker. You accidentally snort with laughter as they exchange a look you’ve seen before of _‘oh no, he’s hot.’_ You know exactly what they’re going to do next, amidst the furious onslaughts of attacks.

 They start flirting.

  _Hardcore flirting._

 You have never been more proud.

 Sans though, clearly heard your little slip up of noise and backs up, completely letting go of you to see your face. “... what the hell in this situation is _actually_ funny?” He looks entirely baffled but also low-key peeved.

 You shrug and point over your shoulder to your students who are flirting so hard that the goat kid is blushing and flustered and _has no idea what to do or how to handle them both._

 Sans looks, becomes entirely confused, then just looks baffled. Like he can’t understand what he’s seeing.

 “okay, the fuck are they doing?!” He gestures in a ‘what the heck i don’t even know what to say to this’ fashion. You successfully silence your laughter, but shake slightly still from the effort. He notices. “oh no you don’t, you can’t give me that mime bs. i heard you laugh before, you can’t hide it from me anymore that you can’t talk in here, pal. i need some answers. spill.” He crosses his arms and you actually laugh out loud.

 “I don’t normally do this, but I’ll break my own rules for you. This is just a little bit risky is all.” You shrug. “So as long as you’re fine with potentially shifting your soul just a little, I’ll tell you why I’m laughing right now as well as what’s going on.”

 He nods casually, but his eye lights remain locked with your own eyes very intensely. “yeah whatever. ’s a mess already, doubt it’d change much.”

 You roll your eyes at the comment. “Sans, if you hadn’t already noticed, I have actually healed the majority of your soul already.” He puts his hand in front of his sternum and makes a motion as if to pull out his soul. You watch him panic a little when he finds he can’t and you sigh. “Sans. Hey. Buddy. Pal. Homie, pay attention here would you?” You snap your fingers in front of him with a smirk. “We are essentially in your soul’s memories right now. Consciously, we are actually inside of your soul. There’s no soul to pull out of a soul.”

 He looks at you dumbly for a moment then tips his skull back and drags his phalanges over his face. “ugggh. what even is my life? nothing makes sense anymore!”

 You snicker at this and pat his shoulder. “It’s not that bad. I mean, besides the fact that we’re in your soul’s memories and watching my student’s flirt-fight with a corrupt wannabe adult magic goat. Besides that, my magic is just a bit more… unique than others. Most canorals can’t _dream_ of doing some of the stuff that I do on a regular basis. I’m just the only thing that _really_ makes no sense considering the fact that those twins will flirt with literally anything. Plus, you likely won’t have to deal with my crazy antics for too much longer.”

 He looks back at you sharply with an expression that you actually can’t place for some reason. “why?”

 You’re a bit confused and slightly taken aback. “Uhm, why what exactly?”

 “what do you mean that i won’t have to ‘deal with your crazy antics too much longer’? where are _you_ going?” His pinpricks for eyes dart all around your face and you can tell that he’s trying to see your soul again by instinct. But for all of the conflicting feelings and ideas that he’s throwing around, you find yourself surprised that he’s not afraid of you and his reaction isn’t fear based for his own safety and the safety of his friends.

 It’s actually almost feels like a conflicted and confused fear of losing someone he cares about.

 You mentally shrug it off. Meh. He’s just emotionally vulnerable right now. It’ll be gone later.

 “Erm. Well I was planning on making you lot a place in StoneArch and then head back to see if I can’t catch the last of Zan’s reincarnation and get a word in. Then I’ll get everyone back to their places and go home myself.” You tilt your head to the side slightly. “Why?”

 He freezes, then just looks at you dumbfounded. A million different thoughts are running through his mind, clearly. Heh. Irony is your best friend sometimes. “i... i don’t know. i don’t know why for almost anything right now. like why was i so calm about you pulling my soul out into the workshop? or why did i stop you from putting my soul back and ask you for help? why am i totally fine with you accessing my core memories of personal hell, touching my soul, and using specific-personal healing magic on me?” He looks down frustratedly. “i have no idea. you just feel safe. but even then, i don’t just trust people like this. so apparently you’re this one huge anomaly. no, an exception.”

 After seeing all of those memories (the one with the kids fighting Flowey you’ve just noticed has actually been paused) you understand the difference for him between ‘anomaly’ and ‘exception.’ One a curse, the other… well it’s more like something acceptable and worth protecting, though he doesn’t really have a specific word that describes it. That’s actually pretty cool of him to say.

 With a soft, quirky smile, you pat the skellie on the head. “Thanks Sans. That’s really cool of you to say. I have no doubt that you’ll figure out all the whys and hows eventually though. They really aren’t all that tricky, if you consider where I pulled your soul into and what it’s purpose is. Now,” you gesture back to the only place in this memory that isn’t entirely black or hilariously rainbow themed. “Shall we get back to this memory and make fun of how stupid the title ‘absolute god of hyperdeath’ is?” Your quirky smile becomes a quirky grin which Sans matches.

 “as awful as this memory is, i can’t disagree that the title Asriel came up with was not his best idea.” The skeleton chuckles and the memory starts to move again.

 You watch with pride as your pupils artfully dodge each attack. Not always making it out unscathed, sure. But not once do they give up. They build up a system. One distracts, and the other heals. Eventually though, they realise that they are not enough. Chara starts up what you can see is a clearly telepathic link to Frisk. You don’t know what’s being said since this is Sans’ memory and the poor guy isn’t omniscient, but a new plan is clearly made between the twins and a flash of renewed determination sparks between them. You didn’t realise that you had moved down into a squat until you feel Sans’ eyes on you. Welp. Whatever.

 Chara makes the first move. “ _Hey Azzy, are you sure you’re not Cinderella?”_ Oh no. You know where this is going. This is ever worse than the flirting they started out with. They’ve reached the naughty level. _“Because I can see that dress coming off at midnight!”_ You watch him wink and blow a kiss. You quickly look at Asriel and snort, then start all out laughing. The poor wannabe adult clearly has no clue as to how to respond, but his face is lit up in a very vibrantly noticeable blush. He splutters around, kind of throwing attacks, but he’s so distracted that he isn’t really focusing on them all that well.

 “how did i not even notice this going on while i was actually living through it?” Sans mutters bewilderedly with a laugh. He’s got a point, but having someone whispering lies and things to distract you from even being happy kind of take up a lot of space in your mind. Besides, everyone is smarter in hindsight.

 Directing your attention back on the twins, you grin as you realise their plan when you notice that Frisk has snuck away and begins talking, _actually talking,_ with the trapped monsters.

 Frisk _._ Who has _never_ liked talking once in their life, is _whispering_ to the trapped and fading monsters. Your respect for this group of monsters skyrockets. Frisk doesn’t use their words for just anyone. The kid gets Alphys and Toriel out of their heads, but is only able to break Alphys free of the entangling vines before they have to go back and switch out with Chara. Watching this, your grin tugs up at the corners to a smirk. You really are proud of these kids. Sure you taught them some stuff before they found this place, but they’ve clearly grown on their own since down here.

 Now Frisk starts flirting with Asriel, but you will never understand how they are so good a silent flirting. They are just _too good_ at it. Yet, as the fantastic audience you are, you giggle as they somehow manage to start a dance off with the massive monster. They seem to like mixing hip-hop and break dancing with… Salsa dancing? You snort at that and roll your eyes. Of course Frisk would include a kind of flirtatious ballroom dance to their repertoire.

 This time, Chara steals away to the other monsters. After healing themselves with what you are more than 100000% sure is a bar of chocolate (the boy is addicted and has a magical stash somewhere you’d swear on it) and to your surprise, he starts right off the bat with Undyne. He tries muttering a few things to the warrior fish, then she replies with something he clearly doesn’t like since he scowls and punches her. You catch him saying _‘quit being a wimp. I thought you had more in you Undyne. You chased us almost all the way through Hotlands before your body gave in, never your mind though. Woman up, sushi.’_ You’re surprised when Undyne suddenly snaps out of it, her eyes clearing before she grins at Chara. _‘Well punk! I can’t have you showing me up, can I? I’ll beat you up later, nerd.’_ Chara smirks and starts moving away to another monster. _‘You can try, but I won’t be defeated by the likes of you, Bestie.’_

 You nod, impressed with how much Chara has grown. It wasn’t too long ago that he had problems with self confidence and was afraid of being hurt in a fight. It may not have been under the best of circumstances that he progressed, but the fact that he hasn’t decided to feed his fears but instead develop more into his own person is more than admirable to you.

 What surprises you though, is the fact that he goes over to Asgore next. But you don’t hear the conversation when Sans nudges you softly with his knee. “how’s it goin’ down there?” He grins casually.

 “Oh it’s just grand.” You snicker. “How the rain up there?”

 He looks at you, absolutely confused. “rain? what rain? we’re in a memory áine, and there is no rain here. at all. this is the underground, remember? an’ we ain’t in waterfall.”

 You have to hold back a laugh. “It’s just an expression, bud. All the same, I’m surprised someone as ‘lazy’ as you is still standing around.” You pat the invisible floor next to you and turn back to the fight. “You’re an awful actor, just so you know. So bad in fact, that _I can see right through you._ ”

 He stiffens as he sits next to you, then chuckles, despite the fact that he’s rewatching one of his most recent worst memories. _Yes! We’re making heaps of progress here! Beyond soul healing, he’s starting on the mental recovery portion already._ “wow. that one was on _pointe._ ” He actually points over to Frisk who is now dancing ballet on the tips of their toes, elegantly dodging attacks that come their way.

 You chortle at the pun. “That was a _fire dance_ pun there Sans. Let’s be sure we don’t jumpstyle into a line dance pun-off.”

 He rumbles with laughter as he watches Chara finish getting Asgore out and trade with Frisk, becoming ghostlike for a second and pushing a very tired but determined Frisk out of a more recent attack that came half a second away from hitting them. If he had been half a second later, Frisk would have been killed. “huh.” Sans mumbles from beside you, analyzing the fight purposefully. “you know i was pretty out of it during this fight until closer to the end. I never noticed how well these two work together and think really… in sync. ‘s like they know when the other is about to fail or mess up, and they just head over quick to swap them out.” He noticed you looking at him about halfway through the last sentence and is returning the gaze to you. “it’s pretty impressive really. how’d you even teach those kids all that stuff?”

 You pause. Truthfully, you don’t feel that you’ve done that great of a teaching job. Maybe they needed to cover a better basic knowledge of stuff like magic limits and what is definitely not okay and shouldn’t be attempted. Maybe you should have been stricter or more firm in taking things one step at a time. But you hadn’t. You asked them what they wanted to know more about, and taught them that. You told them that they would look into what they were considering for the next lesson first, then if they thought that they were really interested or figured it would be good to know about, then they should ask you. You never planned lessons outside of that, nor did you give them any other homework. When they disappeared, you reflected over how you had taught them and concluded that you had pretty well neglected them.

 You figured that you were a truly awful person for not teaching them better.

 With a sigh, you pull out of your thoughts and judgements on yourself. “I, well.” You chuckle dryly as you watch the twins slowly but steadily release each trapped monster. “I didn’t teach them much, really. Just whatever they asked me about like how my magic works or why some people need to draw an Arch to relocate themselves in space while others don’t. I was a pretty lousy instructor. This,” you gesture to their fight. “This is all on them. How they’ve grown and built up mental and magical strength to work out complex strategies to solve problems. I can’t take credit where it’s not due, and this is definitely where it all belongs to them.”

 You notice that Sans keeps looking at you, but for once you don’t notice how he looks you over more carefully than before, picking up on subtle details in your body language. So while you’re oblivious, you decide to float upside down while watching the remaining of the memory.

 “y’know,” Sans picks up the conversation ball casually as ever, watching Frisk come over to get him, the last of the trapped. “w’en i first met the kids, they were terrified. terrified but clever. the puzzles that paps put together hardly made ‘em blink. even when they were fighting, they knew how ta analyze patterns in their opponent and come up with a strategy of some sort. they picked up clues everywhere they went and studied out everything.”

  _‘just give up. i did.”_ You both watch Sans in this memory, his voice hollow and his eye sockets just as empty. It makes you pretty sad, but Frisk just shakes their head fiercely.

  _‘I won’t Sans.’_ This is the first time you’ve heard the genderfluid child’s voice. It holds a rich and empowering sound, even with how softly they are talking. _‘But I do want you to know someone really cares about you. Heaps of people actually. And I am one of them. I care about you a skele-ton, Sans the skeleton.’_ They pull away the aggrieving roots from his body and hold their arms out to him. _‘What do you say, friend?’_

 The present Sans chuckles beside you. “i don’t think that kids with a normal teacher learn to do quite the same incredible feats as these troublemakers. whatever it was that you gave them, it was exactly what they needed to win this fight. to win every fight they faced in tha underground.”

 You right yourself so that you aren’t watching upside down and watch quietly as the Sans from the memory slowly seems to come back from the brink of dusting. His eye lights come back and tears begin to trickle down his face, despite the ever lingering smile stretched across his face. Leaning down, he accepts their hug and hugs them back. _'thanks kiddo. y'know, that pun wasn't half bad. i'll do my best ta help; but more than anythin' else, i believe in ya. both you and Chara. don't give up. givin' up isn't actually all that fun. i'd bet you my full tab's worth of grillby's that it's no fun.'_

 Frisk just grins and nods, whispering a quick _'thank you'_ before running off to join Chara.

  _'So we've got everyone now, huh?'_ Chara grins almost evilly in anticipation. _'Great. Because I think Asriel might be gaining a slight immunity to flirting.'_ Frisk covers their mouth and giggles while dodging attacks without much thought, along with their brother.

 **_'Ready?'_ ** Frisk signs. Chara nods.

 _'WHAT ARE YOU UP TO NOW!?'_ Asriel's booming voice calls over to them like an explosion. _'ANOTHER USELESS TRICK YOU HAVE LEFT TO ATTEMPT TO PULL!?'_

 **_'No.'_ ** Frisk signs. **_'We don't have any useless tricks. We're good at what we do. Chara and I are as-riel as it gets.'_ ** They pause when fingerspelling the pun to make sure that the adult/goat/kid gets it. And the moment he does, he actually pauses to laugh. It's in that moment that you happen to look to the side and see Chara, the now brave, strong, smart, and ever loyally caring to the point of fault, finishes drawing something on the ground. You recognise the incredibly complex diagram that you made yourself and taught them when they asked about ways to save a corrupted canoral.

 Your eyes go wide and a few tears begin trickling down your cheeks.

  _'I, Chara, with my blood sibling and twin soul Frisk, call upon the help of our willing and loyal friends; to maintain hope, to protect, and to SAVE A LOST SOUL who we know to be in dire need of cleansing. With love, charity, and DETERMINATION we name and cleanse you,_ **_ASRIEL DREEMUR!_ ** _'_ With that, Chara activates the diagram, Frisk at his side. The soul energy from the two of them starts a chain reaction that calls forth the same pure energy from their newly released friends, as well as the other inhabitants of the underground. All of this energy and basic healing intent collects in seconds and surrounds Asriel, completely engulfing him in a moment, before it disperses and he is once again a flower. The souls he had previously consumed are again separated from him and they float away to hover over the exhausted twins.

 You remain incredibly still, completely blown away. He remembered the chant. They both remembered it. Chara and Frisk remembered the chant, where the variables were, in what order they needed to be said, and with what intent each part of the relatively short purifying verbal setup. In the ancient and universal tongue of magic no less. They did it. They ended the fight with no deaths, and cleared all hatred fuelled grudges.

 The Sans who's sitting beside you tentatively takes your hand. "... you ok there bud?" He asks softly in his deep rolling voice. You nod slowly and relax. While wiping your tears away, you chuckle softly.

 "Well, I guess you were right Sans." You squeeze his hand that has yours softly as thanks for pulling you back into the present memory. Huh. How ironic.  "I guess I taught them at least one thing of worth." You smile fondly at the pair of twins as they repeatedly spare the small yellow flower. "... They really are such good kids."

 Sans nods and stands, helping you up along with him. "they sure are."

 "Hey," you pause as you look at Sans. "You're supposed to be the one healing here, not me. You sneaky skeleton."

 He blinks at you a couple times, then busts out laughing. "welp. sorry not sorry i guess áine. you ready to see yourself from my point of view?"

 You snicker. “Are you sure that’s something you want to invite me to? You’ll basically be telling me your entire first impression of me.”

 He gives you a ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me’ look. “ya do realise that i basically just gave you the personal lowdown of my thoughts and feelings for the biggest traumatic years of secrecy i’ve ever had, right?”

 “Well of course I know that Sans. I was healing you the entire time, silly skeleton. But that was all past stuff that I had no other privy too and all around wasn’t involved in. It’s not like you could have seen me and had some personal thought that I picked up on because I’m watching you watch me from a memory.” You give him a ‘it’s up to you but whatever’ look. “Still, if you want me to see, then we can. Otherwise your soul is pretty well healed up at this point, so we can leave whenever.”  You glance over to the still running memory as Chara and Frisk pull together the souls and build up a combined magical attack that takes the shape of… a soul. _This must be the timing we were waiting for above…_

 They smash it into the barrier and nothing happens. On bated breath they wait, but instead of the barrier breaking, a final tremor shakes the ground like an earthquake, and shows no sign of stopping. But half a moment later, your soul as well as the souls of your companions, show up in a circle where the twins just tried to smash the barrier on their own. And the shaking stops.

 Suddenly, your mind is filled with the thoughts from Sans’ memory self. _‘where did those come from? never seen souls like that before. there’re... brighter than any i’ve seen b’fore.’_ You watch his eye lights lock onto the green soul as it sets itself alight with a violent light, so bright that it becomes hard to look at, even without eyeballs. But in response, the trembling yellow suddenly quits shaking, but dims sadly. His eyes flicker to your own strange, swirling indigo soul; it seems to swell with forceful rage and anguish. _‘what’re they doing?’_ He’s intrigued, but a little afraid. The red one seems to flare brightly for a moment before settling again, and your little indigo soul almost vibrates with growing rage and grief. One by one, the souls are pulled out at random, until only your own is left. And it looks about to burst. The soul seems to almost audibly scream as the chaotic swirling builds, until there is an mild upheaval in the ground followed by the barrier cracking and shattering to nothing. You watch as your soul lingers in grief, then seems to sigh sorrowfully and is surrounded by seven little pinpricks of colourful light, along with one dot of pure white.

 _'Y'know, lookin' at this last soul lookin' thing... As terrifyin' as it is, it's probably one of the most beautiful I've seen yet.'_ His eyes turn to Chara as he hears the kid curse under his breath, and the last soul disappears along with the tiny lights.

 _'”Oh fucking hell. Frisk, whatever happened to green and almost happened to Lillie, it's got teach angrier than I've ever seen and sadder than I've ever thought she could manage to be for the hyperactive sunflower she is. She's... She's gonna be alright, right?”'_ Chara's voice wavers and for a split second, you see the fear that used to constantly linger in his eyes.

 Frisk slowly shakes their head. **_'She's stronger than she lets on. She'll be fine in the end. Us on the other hand...'_ ** They scrunch up their face a little and Sans looks surprised at the reluctance that shows in their subtle signing. **_'Well, if she's still mad when she finds us, then we're really going to be in for it.'_ **

 You see Chara nod, running a hand through their long hair and fringe. Then you sense Sans stiffen in your peripherals more than you really see it. _'oh shit. c'm_ on _. we're_ still _not outta the woods yet? nothin' makes these kids tense anymore. but it's not like they're gonna ask for help, prideful kiddos. whatever's coming, i gotta be careful and ready for it.'_

 Oh. _So that's why Sans was glaring daggers at me when we first met. He thought I was going to really hurt them or do something equally as... Ridiculous. Although, I guess actually hurting them just sounds strange to me in the first place. Not so strange for someone who doesn’t know me at all._

 You look over to the present Sans and notice him sweating slightly, avoiding looking at you. "yeah... y'know i think i'll take up ya offer on skipping the rest. we good now pal?"

 You snicker lightly at his expense, then nod. "Yup. I figured you'd see what I meant eventually." You snag his hand and pull you both out. With a quick glance behind yourself to check how everyone outside of the workshop, you smile contently. You're still at the top of your game with speeding up time for those who are healing and not needing to slow it down for those outside. This skill of yours has come in handy. Still, you need to double check that Sans mentally came out of his soul with you, and speaking of his soul, you need to double check that you've got everything healed up nicely without any... abnormalities.

 When you look back to Sans, you note how he's pulled his hood over his face again and is blushing profusely. _Well I know he's out at least._ You chuckle softly, then look back at his soul. It doesn't look like anything is wrong with it, but it still seems... off somehow.

 "Sans..." Your voice is quiet, sounding almost as anxious and heavy as you feel. You have a guess of what might still be in needing of healing... But you hope sincerely that you're wrong. He clearly notices your shift since he pulls his hood down slowly and looks at you with an expression you would dare to call worried.

 "yeah áine...?"

 "Dings didn't... Gaster didn't ever do anything to your soul did he? He didn't make you take something or inject anything into you ever... Did he?" Your voice is quiet and you look up to see Sans' eye lights gone.

 "... okay. I get that you can read me well áine, but this is gotta be crossing a line-"

 That’s all you need to know the truth, and it ignites the flame of rage inside you. "Oh that absolute IMBECILE!" The growling shout rips out of your throat angrily while you carefully and tenderly cradle Sans' soul in your hands. He jumps in surprise, previous anger gone.

 "uhm... what'd ya say there?" He asks hesitantly.

 "I said," you start again, furious. "That your father is an imbecile! He loved you guys so much, yet he probably convinced himself that 'improving' you was a good thing to do for the sake of everyone." You growl out. "I love the guy, but sometimes he's clueless to the point of insult and absolute embarrassment.” You look up at Sans with a sorry expression. "I'll apologise before hand, but this is going to hurt. A lot."

 "Wai-wai-wait. What exactly are you-" You don't wait for him to finish before you plunge in a pair of needle thin tweezers made of your own magic, and activate your ability in your eyes to see through his soul. He freezes at the sensation of you peering through his very being, then rips loose a bloodcurdling scream of agony.

 "I'm sorry." You whisper as you grab hold of then meticulously pull out a long, thin, wide piece of Gaster's magic combined with some material which looks like a metal divider and filter. "You've got chronic internal bleeding. I should've known." You mutter and carefully clean out the soul, suturing it closed with more of your magic and speeding up the healing process once more until the soul is fully repaired once more. Sans stopped screaming the moment you removed Gaster's strange device from his soul. Panting lightly, he just watches you as you soothe his soul with care, and a bit of guilt. When it's been completely healed, you wearily return his soul to him.

 "... you okay?" He asks softly.

 You laugh bitterly. "I should be asking you that, Sans. That must've hurt more than when he put it in you."

 He just looks at you. "well, only for a sec. his may’ve hurt less, but it lasted a lot longer." With a quick glance down at the magic object, he starts swearing a bit but starts talking again. "so, what is it exactly?"

 You looks down and sigh irritably. "It looks like he was trying to force your soul to concentrate and maintain your highest magic capacity, potential, and flow rate. Idiot should've known that science can't create workable shortcuts." You almost growl the end out as you snap the brittle contraption in your fingers with hardly any force.

 "oh." Wow. Complex and sophisticated sounding as ever, Sans. "so... if it didn't do what it was supposed to, what did it actually accomplish?"

 You briefly check his stats. "Why not take a look for yourself, pal?" He really needs to work on being aware when someone is knocking on his soul and strutting in to check him like it’s no big deal. For as much as he thinks he’s aware and on top of it all, Sans is really oblivious.

 He furrows his brow and looks down, his eyes focusing on what the check on his stats are telling him. His eye sockets widen and his face goes slack as he reads them.

 *Sans the Skeleton.

 *HP 737   DEF 100  ATT 200  LV 1(?)  EXP ??

 *The strongest monster in the Underground.

 "Ever wondered why you could have so much power, but a body that didn't seem capable of properly managing it? Or why you were always so tired constantly no matter how much sleep you got? Well that's because your soul had internal bleeding and faulty, destructive, interference which could have killed you. Well, I should call it internal damage really. Skeletons don't have the guts to bleed I've heard." You chuckle and Sans laughs softly along with you, still mostly disbelieving.

 "i... i can't just get taken out by a single hit anymore. i'm not... i don't have to always be weary of everything an' everyone I pass by." His deep voice rumbles softly, relief echoing throughout his words.

 You smile somewhat sadly. "Yeah. You'll be just fine now."

 Even in his happy astonishment, Sans doesn't miss the sadness in your voice. He looks up at you, concerned. "áine. what's wrong?" You shrug and lay back in response. "hey, you can't leave me hangin' here. i just officially became the strongest monster in the underground." You only sigh at his jovial remark. "oi. what's up? c'mon, i need somethin' to work with here.” He waits for a moment and goes ahead to pester you once more. “áine. buddy. chum. pal. amigo. wait, you're not a guy so it'd be amiga. amiga. seriously. ugh, fite me helen."

 That you snort at. "Where did that come from?"

 Sans shrugs. "dunno. Just sounded right. maybe in another world I'm incredibly passive aggressive about almost everything but tell people to fight me when i'm fed up enough? maybe i change more after consecutive timelines and i always had it in me? who knows. the only important thing here is that i actually got a verbal response from you. freaking finally. now ya gotta tell me what's eatin' at ya."

 You actually tilt your head to look at him with a deadpan look on your face. "Knock knock."

 Sans raises a surprised and slightly suspicious bone brow. "who's 'ere?"

 "Dog gone."

 "Dog gone who?"

 "Doggonit I'm sorry that I hurt you, even if it helped you get better." He pauses, and begins to say something when you close your eyes and interrupt him, turning your head back straight. "Knock knock."

 You can tell that he's really confused at this move on your part. "...who's 'ere?"

 "Dishes."

 He scoffs, only slightly amused. "I already know this one áine."

 "No you don't. Dishes."

 You can pretty much feel his eye lights roll then focus on you like laser beams. "fine. 'dishes' who?"

 "Dishes the part where you accept the apology and go back to fretting about your brother. Dishes also better be the last time I catch you tryin' to peek at my soul too. Wash dish-it you're going to collect some dirt from people if you keep that up. Dishes no way that I can soap you get clean at that point." You maintain a flat tone of voice and Sans, although still concerned, rumbles with laughter.

 "what even, how did you-?"

 "I'm older than hell. That's how." You chuckle dryly.

 "oh yeah." He remarks, still in a pretty good mood after your joke of an apology. Man, you're too good for yourself sometimes. "you never did tell me how old you are."

 "Clearly you didn't hear the part about how you're not supposed to ask a lady her age Sans." You sass back.

 "well tha's a'right. you're no lady." You crack an eye open to look at him as he looks at you, a gloating smirk on his face.

 "Damn. You've caught me. My big secret is out. I'm actually two years old and possessing my mother's body."

 Your sarcasm clearly goes over his head at first because his facial expression goes from grinning cheerfully, to out right horrified. That change makes you laugh so hard that tears come up in the corner of your eyes. "wait, why are you laughing-" he stops and his confused expression goes slack and he facepalms. "oh my stars. that was sarcasm. i just got hardcore trolled by the flirt master. what even is my life anymore?"

 You continue to laugh. "Guess."

 "uh, guess what?" Sans looks up from his hand.

 You can't let this opportunity pass by. "I don't know. What is it Sans?" He rolls his eyes and makes a sound of mixed groan and laugh.

 "twice in a row. that's actually pretty good."

 “Why thank you.” You giggle again, then relent. "Okay but really, try and guess my age."

 Sans looks at you in surprise. "seriously?"

 You cross your arms over your chest in a big 'X.' "Wrong! 'Seriously' isn't an age. Although, if it is, then I never want to be that old. Sounds boring and uneventful." You snicker at San's dumbfounded expression. "Guess again, smarty."

 "okay, this is actually happening. uhh, you're older than tori, so 1,800?"

 "Nope. You are dead cold. Oh wait." You laugh again. He laughs with you. _Skeleton puns._

 "you dork." He nudges you with a knee again. "10,000?"

 "Whoa there. Just how ancient do you think I am?" You put a hand over your heart in mock offence.

 He blushes and looks at anything but you. "Sorry-"

 You roll your eyes. "You're warmer."

 His head snaps back to lock eyes with you. "you're joking."

 You smirk. "Not in the slightest. You went a bit far, but it's certainly closer than your first guess."

 He blinks. "5,000."

 "Cooler. But not as cool as me!" You grin.

 "8,000."

 "Warmer."

 "9,000?"

 "Colder."

 "how much colder?"

 "You're a whole iceberg colder."

 "7,000 then."

 "Warmer."

 "7,500"

 "Ooohhh. Is it getting hot in here or is it just you?" You smirk mischievously and Sans blushes again.

 "7-7,800?"

 "Hotter still. Although that might just be me." You wink and his face lights up a bit more. He's too fun to tease.

 "7,700?"

 "You're on the brink of boiling here Sans."

 He moves again to say what you're sure is going to he another number when Chara jumps into the space, along with the three amulets. "Teach, I know you've probably been in here for hours and it's really only been like two minutes outside, but everyone really needs a home and Green wants to try and go to... Zan's funeral ceremony."

 Oh shoot. You nod, suddenly serious again. "Yeah, sure thing Charred Chicken."

 Chara groans. "That was one time and we were just barely learning how to apply fire magic with more control than just shooting fireballs at places. You can't hold that against me for the rest of my life, Áiney. It's not even fair."

 "And you've got zero respect for your elders. Jokes and bad stories are all we’ve got left that’s fun anymore." You reply back, deadpanning sarcastically. "Just kidding. Let's get this show on the road then huh?" You stand up and Chara nods, then leaves with the amulets again.

 "okay, you've gotta tell me how old you are then if we've gotta wrap this up now." Sans stands as well and looks up at you a bit.

 You grin almost evilly. "Nah. You'll have to come and find me later if you really wanna find out."

 "oh c’mon that's not even fair-"

 You close the workspace and exit with Sans, effectively cutting him off. It's really too funny to do. And he makes it so easy. "Alright everyone! I'm going to draw up a couple of Arches to get everyone from here and the underground, to StoneArch. I'll also put up a couple of permanent Arches here do if anyone wants to stay or come back, they totally can. Then I'll get you all set up with the biggest pocket dimension you've ever seen, and let you all fix yourselves up from there. I'll give you the controls so you can alter it fix whatever else you need." You clap your hands and a long, wand-like stick if slightly glowing chalk stuff falls into your outstretched hand. "Let's get going shall we?"

 With a beginning flick of your wrist towards the cave wall, you draw and open an enormous Arch, automatically activating it. "Feel free to explore around with Frisk and Chara when you get there. Just be warned that there are likely to be crowds of people that will swamp the kids and give them an earful for going off on their own. Since, you know, everyone thought that they were dead. They're still fresh out of luck though. I still have to give them their full lecture." You glance over at them coolly, and they both pointedly look away from you. "Anyways, have fun!"

 You turn and open up a new Arch to the PDHub and walk through it, closing it automatically as you walk out. You do notice before it closes that Sans is again glaring at you. This time though, he's not mad or defensive, just mildly irked and a little bit... confused? You chuckle. He may be smaller in size—maybe 5'2" ish?—but he's taller than many in personality.

 Now to get make the pocket dimension for the rest of the underground. Walking over to an empty space on a middle floor of the building, you begin drawing a massive permanent Arch diagram on the wall. You draw in the elaborate blueprint that you'd been thinking up since you watched Sans' memories of the underground. You know that it's got to have multiple biomes, do you make it quite similar to the underground's formatting. Only, you add some things. You add a sky, real weather conditions, a desert, an ocean, mountains and valleys, a rainforest and jungle, as well as a prairie. With more space in both the old and new biomes giving more opportunity to explore, you figure that everyone can find something that they’ll like. With that done and out of the way, you insert a larger maintaining crystal before stepping in. You look around quickly at each biome and when you're satisfied, you create building materials, tools, blueprint pages, pens and pencils, and enchanting papers in case anyone feels like using them. After finally making a quick creation remote that looks like some kind of tablet or iPad, you write a message explaining how it works to Toriel telling her that Frisk and Chara should be able to help too, along with where the Arch holding their new home is located. (You may or may not have added a comment about how she needs to name the place if Asgore tries naming it 'new new home' or something.) You fold up the message quickly and send it off with the tablet thingy safely wrapped up inside.

 Nodding to yourself, you teleport back to the underground and begin drawing and activating Arches all over the place, linking them to the similar locations you made in the pocket dimension. You notice a pale flash of blue following you here and there, but you pay it no mind. If Sans wants to follow you, then he can run himself ragged. You don’t especially mind.

 What you do mind is how burdensome the underground is. The magic density in the air down here is high enough that your body feels heavy. The concentration must be the reason that weather patterns are so outlandish and splotchy. Fortunately, this setup seems to have worked well for the monsters down here. That aside, it shouldn't be hardly a strain to hold up several different Arches for a couple of hours since they’ll absorb so much of the magic in the air. So you head on back to your friends where the funeral should be held right now. Hopefully you won't be too late. Technically it's only been fifteen minutes, so it shouldn’t have finished yet. You hate to think of the possibility of not getting to give your thanks and let Zantha know that the work she was a part of has finally been peaceably completed. She deserves to know at least that much.

 You resolutely tip your chin up and teleport to the place you left your companions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Howdy! You made it to the end! Congratulations.
> 
> My comments monster is always waiting for more food. (ˆ◊ˆ)
> 
> You are incredible, marvellous, and stunning.
> 
> So don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
> 
> ~pS <3 ]


	6. Sneaky, but not actually. Mysterious, but in reality just risky.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans' POV in the beginning with an accidental but welcomed intrusion. (Poor skele, he doesn't do the sneaky sneaking very well.)  
> Áine's POV after. Mysteries are brought to light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a little shorter, and that's because finals and excessive amounts of homework sucks. But! I am very happy that I'm able to get this chapter up in time.
> 
> The next chapter might be a little late, just a heads up for you all.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who bookmarks, leaves kudos, comments and asks me the questions that keep my creative river active and flowing.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> ~pS

**_ You resolutely tip your chin up, and teleport to the place you left your companions. _ **

 

  
 He’d been following Áine for a while now. You're tricky to keep track of, and either you're really fast at drawing up those ‘Arch’ things, or you—an almost obscenely tricky woman—have got some other trick that gets you place to place so quick.  _ if i weren’t so good at locating souls, i’d’ve lost her ages ago. still got a couple 'a bones to pick with her. _ He sighs and follows you clumsily from place to place in the Underground, still curious beyond even what he would have imagined.

 "why does it even matter? she's just some gal who helped break the barrier from the outside." He mutters to himself, evidently more frustrated with himself than he initially gave credit for. "áine. an enigma in 'er own right. who the hell aside from boss monsters even lives that long?! an' she's apparently fine with giving up answers, but conveniently can't find time to actually spill 'em?" He kicks a rock irritably. "an' why am i so curious? why does it even matter? why was it so easy to trust 'er? I dunno her for ten minutes and i just... bare my soul's pain to her?! what is this, some sorta fairytale?" He rolls his eye lights exasperatedly. His train of thought is all over the place, and he knows it. It’s making him feel less rational than normal, which in no way does he like.

 That same moment though, as he finally exits his own questioning and agitation, Sans notices you've created yet another active Arch, and disappeared. Quickly expanding his soul's perception range, he locates where you are now working in the Underground. He notes as he takes a ‘shortcut’ to a location that should be mostly out of your view, but not so far away that he can’t see what you’re doing, that you’ve activated and left open multiple Arches.  _ doesn’t that take a lotta power ‘n’ energy to keep those up? _ He scrutinizes as he watches you gracefully draw up and activate another Arch with ease.

 He has to stop himself as he automatically tries to look at the woman’s soul.  _ can’t do that anymore. a’least not with her. she’ll know i’m here. _ He sighs wearily. He was tired initially from the mental ‘attack’ from the fight with Asriel, then more physically tired after such rapid soul healing and what was technically a surgery on his soul. He should really get some sleep. But he’s beyond curious. Teleporting around this much in rapid succession wears him down. He knows as much. Especially when his mind is running on such high gear. He stops focusing on magic refinement when thinking hard about something else. Only now to his surprise, he’s realizing that it isn’t so hard to teleport consecutively anymore. Besides how tired he was originally, he’s feeling pretty light and magically energized presently.

  _still, this woulda been so much easier if she wasn’t so hyperactively aware of her soul._ He squints his eye sockets as you put the funny looking white glowy wand thing away through a ripple in space.  _ now what the heck even is that ability? i still can’t make heads or tails of what kinda magic she’s got. as dumb as it is, i’m almost disappointed that she hasn’t attacked anyone at this point. _

 He chastises himself for that thought.  _ there’s no reason to think like that. áine isn’t just going to hide that kind of information if i ask her up front about it.’  _ He nods firmly. Still, she’s a new mystery. A  _ gorgeously enthralling _ mystery, that isn’t likely to kill him (or even attempt to attack) if he steps out of the shadows to observe. Although, that doesn’t mean that he always has to stay out of the shadows. He grins a little wider.  _ as clever as she is, i doubt that she’ll have much of a problem with me here, even if she does somehow find me. _ He has confidence in that. But like most things regarding you, he still has no idea why that confidence is so strong it comes from the soul. The feeling is nothing dramatic, just a steady awareness that she is safe. That she is trustworthy.

 Speaking of trustworthy, he figured out that while in your…  _ workplace? or was it workspace? workshop maybe? _ He huffs and shakes his head.  _ it doesn’t really matter. knowing her, it’s likely to be interchangeable among all three. _ In any case, your clue of  **_‘I have no doubt that you’ll figure out all the whys and hows eventually though. They really aren’t all that tricky, if you consider where I pulled your soul into and what it’s purpose is’_ ** helped him out a little. He had taken from that, that one of the other unique aspects of your work… what’s-it-called, is that it automatically builds trust between healer and patient, whether or not the patient is an active participant or an observer. It was the reason that he hadn’t had some kind of panic attack at having his soul pulled out, and likely why he was able to be so honest with you. That was his conclusion at least. And it made sense. You didn’t seem the destructive type. The concept that healing is better and fuller through the calming affects of trust pretty well works for you when you do your thing.

 He couldn't explain how through words, but the whole thing was incredibly you. It required a tremendous amount of faith and confidence to allow someone to heal another's soul. Yet you had created a space where that trust became possible. Where there was no fear of being intentionally hurt. No one could attack without consent of all actively present. You made all of your intentions known to him, really. He had known you hadn't wanted to hurt him when you plunged those magical tweezers into his soul to make him stronger again. If he hadn't been so absorbed in himself at the time, he would have noticed it then and there.

  _yeesh. áine had been right about the power of hindsight too, now that i think about it._ He chuckles to himself again.  _ Clever old lady. _

 He clearly hasn't given you enough credit yet. On the topic of credit to you, you had vanished again. Searching out your peculiar soul, he located you outside of the Underground. Curiosity piqued once more, he teleports to the mouth of the cave you all first met at, and looks down at the lush green grassy forests surrounding the laughably titled 'mountain.' Trying to avoid looking up at the ever darkening sky, he finally noticed a bright, almost flickering light not too far away from the foot of the mountain.  _ so that's where you went. doesn't make much sense though. what good would a clearing in the forest do for you? and what's with the fire? _

 He shrugs. He'll just have to find out the hard way, taking a slightly longer route to get to you since he doesn't exactly know the location you're around very well and it would be risky to try and teleport in.  _ might accidentally get stuck with a branch halfway through me or worse. _ He chuckles.  _ yeah, the slightly longer route is the better plan. _ So he squints down a ways in front of himself and teleports a fair distance away from the cave opening, then starts walking casually through the tangle of trees in the twilight towards where he can feel your strange soul pulsating softly.

 As he makes his way over, he notices how much calmer and relaxed he is even in a brand new place, no longer having only one hp. He chuckles again.  _ you really are something else, áine. _ He goes quiet as he approaches the clearing, and freezes before he can take a last step in.

 He flushes slightly in embarrassment.  _ she's at her friend's funeral. for whoever the green soul was. _ He's about to back away when he hears your voice jingle with laughter, and his eyes lock onto your highlighted silhouette. "Oh come on, I wasn't that bad! Don't be mean Zan!" He can hear the playful pout in your voice, and just finds himself surprised. Your friend just died with no way of getting them back. No resets or anything. And you're smiling and joking around.  _ seriously, what even is this woman? nothing makes proper sense with her. _

 Turning his head away, he makes to move back when he hears your voice again, a bit more solemn and reverent. "I'm sorry Zantha. I never meant to give you reason to give your All. But I wanted you to know that I'll take care of Green and show her the love and kindness that you would have."

  _wait, is she talking to her friend who_ died _? _

 "Thank you Áine. I knew I could count on you!" A cheery voice responds. "Everyone told me that you might not make it back in time to speak with me. You didn't shirk your duties just to send me off did you?" The other woman's light and floaty almost will-o-wisp like voice sounds ever so worried.

  _hold up, how the hell are they even talking?_ Sans looks up, eyes searching for... Something. He doesn't know what exactly it is, but it just doesn't make sense that you could be talking with someone who's dead. It seems... Almost wrong.  _ i never got that chance with paps when he was gone. _

 You said something. He missed it, but he heard his name. "He had it rough. I had to take him into the workshop to heal his soul. I didn't think he would let me to be honest." You speak sheepishly. "He's one of WingDings' babybones. Remember them?"

 "You know dear, being dead really puts Dr. Gaster's magic off a turn. I remember more than you do at this point. I remember it all actually. And I'm awfully sorry that you'll have to deal with those awful headaches Áine dearie. I'm sure you can ask Lillie and Emm or one of our monster friends to help you with those. Healing yourself is not as easy as it is to heal others." Your silhouette shifts slightly in what he assumes is a nod.

 "It's... It's never that easy to just, you know."

 He's stumped. Again. You're over 7000 years old and you still have problems with asking people for help?

 The fluttery voice giggles. "Oh you prideful butterfly.  **_'There is no shame in asking for help and healing.'_ ** You told me this once. Is this still not true?" 'Zan' sounds almost smug and she's smiling knowingly.

 You kick the ground a little and sigh dramatically. "You're almost as bad as Lillie you know, Zantha. You two and your mild obsession with mothering me and spitting my words back in my face. Even from the grave you two'll bother me." You actually sound rather embarrassed. That's got him intrigued. "Hopefully this doesn't happen again." You mutter softly.

 Sans frowns. It's hard to loose people. He knows as much.

 He jumps when his name is called. "Come on Sans. I know you're there and I know you heard me." Your voice is both amused and mildly exasperated.

  _shit. she's know the whole time hasn't she?_ He sighs and steps out, somewhat guiltily but holding his usually relaxed expression. He’s had a lot of practice with it. "sup. how long d'you know i was there?"

 You snort. "The whole time Sans. I've known you were there since the moment you teleported to waterfall after me. You're not very stealthy when you're creating a lake of magic around you as you show up." You've turned to look at him, the light from the burning bonfire illuminating your green eyes and turning your hair a brighter orange and gold. "I was surprised that you didn't ever try to peek at my soul though, Judge. I'll give you brownie points for that." You tip your hat up and grin.

 He blushes.  _ so she knew the whole time. welp. that’s embarrassing. _ With a sigh, he chuckles. "clearly i can't get much past ya. sorry for followin' ya 'round the underground." He shrugs nonchalantly. You laugh.

 "Sans, you cutiebones," you walk over to him and lean down to whisper in his ear. "Don't apologize for something you aren't actually sorry for, kiddo." You stand back with a smirking grin and speak a bit louder. "I mean, if you wanted to jump my bones already I'd get it. Happens all the time." You flip your hair back over your shoulder and the group he hadn't really noticed was around before starts laughing at your antics. Despite his own embarrassment, he laughs too.

 "always the true flirt master, aren't you?" He chuckles and relaxes a bit. "really though, I am sorry for crashing your... whatever this is."

 You wave him off and with a grin you grab his arm—much to his surprise—then drag him closer to the fire.

 ...Which turns out to not really be a fire at all. It's the green soul pouring out light so bright it’s almost too hard to look at. Zan’s soul is resting above her physical body and projecting her very being's body as her body would have looked without imperfections. Although she's mostly opaque, she still looks beautiful and kind. She smiles wider as he comes closer with you. "Well hello Sans! I remember when you were just a little babybones! Time surely has allowed us space for growth! Your stats have gone up significantly! Áine told us that she gave you an intensive healing session. She doesn't do those very often since they can tend to take a lot of energy in multiple areas, so make sure she takes care of herself for me alright?" She beams down at him and he looks up at her, baffled. For multiple reasons.

 "hold up, you're as old at áine? or, uh, were just as old? I don't really know how to say that without pointing out the fact that you're dead. sorry. but also, how are you here if you have your all anyways?" This is fascinating.  _ how does that work? clearly vocchrones don't turn to dust like monsters, but a conscious apparition from the soul that can communicate last words? that's incredible. _

 Zantha giggles. "Ever the scientist like your father, dear Sans. I was not as old as our cute Áine here. I'm a few centuries younger. And the fact that I'm here talking like this... Well that's a better question to ask Áine later, when she's ready to give a proper answer." She pauses and just looks at him. It's almost like how you had looked through him. Only, she is  _ actually seeing _ him. Not looking through him. "Don't give up hope dear. Never allow yourself that easy kind of escape. You are capable of much more than you realize." She smiles at him softly.

 He recognizes her now. That smile was the last thing he saw of her before the barrier went up. They all had that kind of sad smile.  _ except áine. she just looked sad and angry _ . "... thanks zana. i'll be sure to remember that."

 She smiles widely again. "Good." He fiddles slightly, wanting to say something, but not sure how to use the right words to properly express what he means so. “Go on dearie. Perfection is for another day.” She gives him a knowing look.

 He nods slightly and takes a breath. "i... i saw your soul. when it set itself on fire. when you gave your all? i, uh. i didn't know what it really meant at the time. 've never seen it before. nobody told me what it'd look like. but I guess what 'm tryin' ta say here, is thank you. i didn't know anyone cared about us enough up top to make any kinda sacrifice. always figured we were on our own. and i'm... 'm sorry that there's nothin' we can give you in return for something so precious."

 Zan looks at him with a fond smile. “Sans, I gave my All because there are many people I care about, and even if I couldn’t remember each person specifically, I knew that I had friends who needed to be out from the Underground. I care, and I don’t ask for anything in return besides kindness. As much kindness that you can give to those around you.” He is flabbergasted, but her soul  _ is _ green primarily afterall. Though he gets no more than a brief moment to think on this before her image flickers ever so slightly and she giggles. "Oh my. It would appear that my time is up! I will be seeing you all in another time." At this moment, Áine releases his arm and steps closer to Zantha along with all of the others standing around her. "Thank you for letting me speak with you all. It was a pleasure and an honour to work with you all. Oh and green darling?" The green amulet lights up brightly in response. "I love you, and I'm sorry that I couldn't look after you and watch you grow up. Please forgive me and be good for Áine will you?" The gem actually shoots cute, tiny sparks from itself and Zantha looks surprised. "Of but of course! I did promise after all. The name I chose for you is Agatha. I am very sorry that I won’t be able to give you any other gifts.”

 The moment that Zantha names the little green amulet, the newly dubbed Agatha begins to glow as bright as her parent, and then brighter still. The moment when she becomes too hard to look at, there is an explosion like magical ripple and the light quickly dies back down. What is left is a young girl who is sitting on the ground, looking rather shellshocked and surprised. No one gets too look at her for more than half a second before you jump in and cover her with your magic, summoning some cloth and sewing it—too fast to properly see—into a dress that you swiftly slip over her head and settle her into nicely. The abrupt miracle of Agatha’s appearance still has everyone else shocked into reverence.

 “Welcome to the physical world, Agatha.” You smile kindly and help her stand. She wobbles as she stands, and leans on you a lot to avoid falling. After gathering herself a little, Agatha looks herself over, then looks up at a pleasantly surprised Zantha.

 “You look wonderful my dear.” Zantha smiles brilliantly. Tears begin to form in Agatha’s eyes.

  _“Zantha.”_ The young woman manages to whisper out.  _ “Mother.” _ The tears slip down her elegantly shaped face. She looks similar to Zantha in so many ways that anyone would normally think that Zantha was Agatha’s biological mother.  _ “Th-thank you.”  _ Her silky and soft voice trembles slightly in a somehow elegant arrangement of joy, sadness, gratitude, and relief. Her expression reveals how exalted she feels.

 “Daughter.” Zantha’s voice is softer than ever and the image flickers more as the soul created image reaches out and carefully caresses Agatha’s face. “You are beautiful. Thank you for allowing me to see this.” Her smile becomes apologetic. “Again, please forgive me, Agatha. I wish that I could have stayed with you.”

  _“Nothing was e-ever in need of f-forgiveness, mother.”_ Her voice is still difficult to use so complexly right off the bat, but Agatha continues on anyways.  _ “We b-both knew w-w-wh-why.” _

 Zantha maintains her apologetic smile and manages to move a strand of long black hair behind the ex-amulet’s ear. “Thank you. You are such a treasure to me. Live well and learn as much as you can, alright? Learn what I didn’t get the chance to in this life.” Agatha nods, tears dripping consistently from her chin to the ground. Her emerald eyes glistening, she kisses her mother’s hand and holds it close. With mere seconds left, Zantha leans forwards and kisses her daughter’s forehead. “I love you, my little gem.”

  _“I-I love you t-too!”_ Her shouted whisper is clearly a huge strain on the poor girl, but she makes it just in time to see Zantha smile and whisper a goodbye before fading away completely.  You hug Agatha close to yourself as the girl falls into a bout of silent sobbing. Everyone in the group leaves a moment of silence in respect and to mourn their own loss for a moment, then in sync, move forward towards the extraordinarily dim soul. He watches as Áine helps the young girl with her to the fading soul as each person standing there mutters some hard to hear words one at a time. The familiar spike of magic washes over him and he realizes that they are speaking in the universal tongue of magic. The gentle murmurings end with Agatha’s words, and the soul twitches ever so slightly. Then it tugs again, shimmering for a moment, then melting in colour until no longer visible. With a soft and echoing  _ ‘pop’ _ is the only evidence that the soul may have lingered after it became entirely transparent.

 “... And so it is.” Lillie whispers into the reverent silence. “The circle continues, and the rest progress another day. Death brings a new beginning, and we left behind take the memories so that those who leave may live on through us.”

 He watches in awe as Zantha’s body transmutes itself from physical matter to pure, raw magic; it makes it’s way through the air, into each party member’s soul gently—including his own—then gradually latching on to nearby trees and flora. Finally, the last of the magic transmutes again into the shape of a crystalline emerald stone. You pick it up and softly press it into Agatha’s palm.

 Lillie speaks up once more. “I will carry your memory, loved one.”

 “As will I.” Jack speaks, his voice firm but heavy with grief.

 “As will I.” Emm speaks soothingly. A silent tear drips down her face.

 “As will I.” Arthur sighs sadly.

 “As will I.” You speak up, a similar sadness mirrored in your eyes. Your guilt resurfacing clearly in your heartbroken expression, and you hug Agatha again.

  _“As will I.”_ The newly made vocchron whispers like the wind, her crying no longer inhibiting her speech.

 “As will I.” Danniel mumbles softly, clutching her amulet and staring at where Zantha’s body was mere moments ago.

 “as will i.” He speaks up respectfully.

 “And so,” You finish the rest of the ritual softly, sounding incredibly familiar with the words, in a way that Lillie just wasn’t. “Does our bettered life begin again.”

 The respectful silence lingers a moment longer, then Jack speaks up. “Well, nice work getting the barrier down, comrades!” The man grins, and a rowdy cheer of agreement and repeated uses of the phrase fills the air. “I say we crash at Áine’s and party it up a bit.” A boyish grin picks up on Jack’s face.

 “Oh no you don’t, Jack. I know that look. We’ve got minors here, so mind your manners and hold your drinking for a night would you? Not everyone here can participate, just like how not everyone can pull off a kilt like that at a council Gathering.” You grin and he laughs, which causes everyone else to laugh even more. Including Agatha who is beaming and giggling quietly, her voice gradually building strength along with her muscles as she adjusts to having them.

  _i am so confused. what just happened..?_ He stands there, totally lost in the whiplash from sombre and sad to excited and joyful. The stranger part of it all, is that he feels the same way. Melancholy and mournful feelings, just replaced with excitement and a relaxed feeling.

  _but how can he relax when none of this makes sense?_

  
  


—————

 

  
 You notice that Sans is just staring. Gaze on all of you in mild shock. You make a split second decision. “You know what? Sure. My actual house is hardly ever used anyways. It’ll be good to get everyone a room to crash in too. Just, no alcohol.” You send a pointed glance to Jack who puts his hands up in the universal ‘you win please don’t shoot me’ gesture, a cheeky grin still on his face.

 “Okay, okay. I get it. We’ve got people under 400 present, no drunkenness allowed at this party.” He relents, still rather jovial like everyone else.

 Well, everyone else besides Sans that is.

 You quickly draw up an Arch that leads directly into the front room of your ridiculously massive house in StoneArch. “In we go kids!” Arthur snorts at that, but walks through first. You help Agatha in, then have Lillie and Emm take her and help show her around and feel more comfortable. You don’t want to leave her, but your girl friends insist that they take her for a bit and try to make her smile as much as they can. They tell her that their goal is to make her know what it feels like to have a sore face from smiling and laughing so much, before you walk back through the Arch and close it so that it’s just you and Sans standing in the clearing. “Are you okay there Sans?”

 He just looks at you, still incredibly lost. “uh, no? i mean, yes? i just. what happened just now? you guys don’t turn to dust when you die.”

 “That was a funeral, and yes. Dust is a monster thing.”

 “and you vocchrones can talk to someone for a short period of time after they die?”

 “Correct.”

 “but you have to do something to the soul when that expires?”

 “Yes and no. It isn’t a requirement, but it makes sure that the soul doesn’t remain in pain and slowly die. The dispersal is linked with the reincarnation enchantment, or the After if that’s what the soul has chosen. It means that both the soul is given peace, and it isn’t left for someone corrupt to take it for themselves. It also brings closure for those nearest at the time of the person’s death.”

 “and you all suddenly started being happy why…?”

 You smile at that. “Zantha was kind. It’s obvious right now after seeing her soul like that, but she was the quiet type of kind. She did all of the little side things that no one would really notice unless they were looking for it, or you were freakishly old like myself and mi amigos.” You shrug. “In life, Zantha set an example of being kind and cheery, alway helping everyone and making sure everyone felt included and happy. Her soul chose to give us a last gift of her magic, which essentially gives us her last will:  _ ‘be happy and celebrate my life, as well as Agatha’s arrival.’ _ As I’m sure you noticed, it’s hard to say no to.”

 He nods distractedly. “yeah, i noticed. so this is all… normal? it’s okay to feel this happy and not… sad even though she literally just died no more than half an hour ago?” He seems a little bit uncomfortable from the obvious culture shock.

 “It’s okay Sans. You’re probably experiencing some culture shock. You don’t have to come to the crazy… house party thing? Yeah, whatever that thing really is, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. It’s totally optional. This is our way of honouring those who leave before we do, but so far this way isn’t yours. You are welcome to do whatever you like.” You pause, then grin cheekily. “I mean, as long as it’s ethical anyways.”

 Sans kind of jerks out of his thoughtful trance at that last comment. “whoa, wait a sec, what now?” He looks almost alarmed. “what isn’t ethical?”

 You giggle, then snort with laughter. “Oh man, you’re so out of it! I just said that you can do anything, as long as it’s ethical. If you want to join in our rambunctious activities at this late of the evening which is becoming more and more like night every second, you are more than welcome. If you want to go back to join your monster clan and do whatever they’re doing, go right ahead. You do you, my friend.” You grin, still amused, but hoping that he got it that time.

 Clearly he did, as he’s mulling over his options. This guy really needs to reign his soul in. Although, he did kind of just get a massive power up, so it’s understandable that he’s a bit out of touch there. “so, lemme recap all a this.” He starts slowly. “for vocchrones, it’s normal to have a funeral on the spot, but even if that’s not the case, communication with the recently deceased is possible; the last wishes of said dead person are given to who ever they chose before completely disappearing; and the emotional upheaval and torment are erased for whatever emotions the person left behind for everyone. is that all correct?”

 You grimace. “No, not quite. The pain from losing someone is not taken away from you. That is not a right anyone has. Nor an ability that anyone currently possesses, nor should they ever. The pain is still there, if you look for it. The feelings of joy for celebrating a life instead of wallowing is a gift. They are yours to accept or decline; never is the choice taken out of your hands. But other than that misconception, yeah you’ve pretty much got the rest right.”

 Sans nods. “yeah, okay that sounds much better. way less creepy too.” He pauses again, “i’ll... i’ll come with. to whatever weird party thing you’re having at your mostly abandoned house.” He decides firmly, like he’s not entirely sure why, but is willing to try for it anyways. You give him a side glance with a raised eyebrow.

 “No need to force yourself you know. You can always-”

 He actually cuts you off for once. ”no! no. i’m curious. an’ i might need to lay low for a bit until i can regulate my own magic again. since i’m talking to you, i guess it’s safe to assume you noticed from the beginning again?”

 You chuckle. “Yeup. I’m good like that.”

 The skeleton just rolls his eyes in good humour. “yeah, that or you’re just ‘older than hell.’ a’least ‘m pretty sure that’s how ya said it.” He grins wider and you snort.

 “Wow. Is it pick on Áine day or something? Man I wish someone would have told me! I could have prepared the best quotes to throw back at myself.” You reply with sarcastic emphasis and a barely disguised grin.

 Scratch that, you’re totally grinning like a fool. And you don’t mind one bit.

 Sans chuckles. “well the night isn’t getting any younger.”

 “Yeah and neither am I. Yet here we are.” You roll your eyes and smirk. “By the way Sans, have you noticed yet?”

 He looks at you, curious. “noticed what?”

 You smile. Clearly he hasn’t noticed. “Oh Sans, I thought it obvious? Of course I was talking about the  _ stars _ .” You point up to the clear sky, now entirely dark and dotted with bright specks of light.

 He looks up and you watch his jaw—which you admittedly weren’t sure actually existed as a separate piece of his face—drop wide open, totally slack. His eye sockets go wide and he just stares. You smile and watch his amazed expression. It really has been a long time, and the stars are probably more of a faded memory than something he would have had a tight grasp on before. After a moment for his revelry, you begin pointing out constellations quietly, letting him have his moment and extending it for as long as you can.

 Eventually, Sans turns to you. You’ve squatted down again, and he finally noticed that fact with mild wonder, finally coming down from that emotional high from seeing the open sky after so long again. “thanks. thank you, áine. i don’t… just, thank you.”

 You smile and stand back up. “You bet Sans. I figured you’d still enjoy the stars.” You cover a wince of pain as your head throbs again. It’s been an on and off pain so far. Sometimes it’s intense, and sometimes it’s more of a dull afterthought.

 But Sans, the ever aware skeleton whenever you would prefer otherwise, notices the ever so slight twitch in your facial expression. “well, you were right. but, uh, you know you don’t have to try to force the memories right? gaster, well. it looks like he took the liberties to give you some extra damage on the memory mash. no need to, erm, hurt yourself to get your memories back, y’know?” He looks up at you, ever so slightly betraying how worried he is about you.

 You consider playing it off as nothing, but lying without good purpose isn’t a habit you’d like to develop. So, yo sigh and look back up at the stars in the Milky Way overhead. “I know. I really do know. But I can’t stand it. The idea that Gaster needed me to forget something so badly that he would specifically target me with an extra charge of memory frazzle-dazzle.” Your normally tall and elegant posture falls slightly into a slouch as you sit on the ground, arms wrapped loosely around your knees. “It’s… frustrating. To say the least. To not remember so much about something so important to you, and not know all of why it’s so important in the first place or even why it was necessary to forget so much.” You notice Sans sit down next to you, crossing his legs and leaning back against a bushy shrub as he looks up at the stars again.

 “... maybe it’s just a wild guess,” he begins slowly as if treading on thin ice, “but i think that you’re jus’ lookin’ composed and collected on th’ outside. if my skills of observation are worth any kind of credit here, i’d say that you’re hurtin’ pretty bad inside.”

 You chuckle softly. “You know, I do think I owe you some answers about my soul and age… eventually.” You note out of the corner of your eye how Sans gives you a surprised, then mildly peeved look.

 “hey, you can’t go pulling that kind of bull with me again, áine.” He grunts quietly. “makes ya sound like a promise breaker.”

 Your cheeky attitude sobers up. You know how seriously Sans takes his promises. “I was kidding you know. I do know what it’s like to have questions and know someone who could give them to you absolutely refuse.” You reply quietly, still admiring the stars. “I don’t mean to keep answers from you like that. You’re just too fun to tease.” The skeleton next to you huffs at that comment and you chuckle softly. “Well, the floor is yours skele-man. Although I still reserve the right to keep anything too private to share, totally and completely confidential.” You end with a serious tone and look back at Sans.

 He nods, accepting your terms. “cool.” He shifts ever so slightly to face you. “first question: how old actually are you? and why are you even still alive?”

 You giggle. “First, that was two questions. Second, I am presently 7,769 years of age. Probably. I might need to check the calendar for what the month and this fine Thursday’s number of said month, since my birthday might have passed while I was out relocating.Third, I don’t actually understand what you’re actually asking there. Clearly I’m still alive because I haven’t died or been killed?” He gives you a look. It’s one of those: ‘you’re kidding me, right?’ You just shrug. “No Sans. I actually  _ can’t _ read minds most days. Just Tuesdays and Saturdays actually.” His eye sockets widen slightly, loosing the little white eye lights, and his skull—which you didn’t know could change to any colour other than blue—becomes a pure white.  _ Huh. I never noticed that his bones are actually all more of a soft cream colour before now. _ Then something hits you,  _ he was actually thinking that maybe I could read his mind, wasn’t he? _ You burst out laughing.

 “what. the. actual.  **_h e l l_ ** .” He glares at you, still missing his pupil things. You keep laughing, your obnoxious snorting laugh bubbling up at the expression that is clearly more for intimidation than to make you laugh. He looks taken aback that you’re still laughing.

 “S-sorry Sans, but oh my gosh, you weren’t  _ actually thinking _ that I could actually read your mind when I said that, were you?” You giggle out.

 He blinks a few times, then falls back into the shrubbery, halfway disappearing in it. “oh my stars.” He start’s exasperatedly, although still mildly amused. You think that he’s trying to cover up his totally adorable blush thing he does.  _ I really need to stop meeting canorals that just look really cool. It makes me overly jealous. _ “that was entirely coincidental, wasn’t it?”

 You nod, then remember that he’s in a bush and can’t see you. “Yup. My sarcasm has been developing steadily for centuries, it gets the better of me sometimes. Sorry for freaking you out.” He makes some kind of ‘whatever’ humming sound and you accept that as his acceptance of your acceptable apology. “Although,” you speak again and notice Sans tense slightly. Apparently, he just realized his own hasty mistake. “It isn’t even a Tuesday or a Saturday, Skele-boy.” You cackle and the light that comes from his magical blush lights up the bush he’s in rather spectacularly. “Oh man, that’s adorable.” Without a second thought, you pull your phone out of a ripple you made in space and snap a picture.

 “yeah yeah, take a picture–” he’s cut short by the rather loud clicking sound you forgot your phone likes to make when it gets a picture. There is a moment of silence. “you sure you don’t–”

 “Absolutely.”

 He sits up. He  _ actually sits up slowly from the bushes. _ What’s even better, is that he’s giving you the best ‘áine, i am so done with your bullshit that it’s just stupid at this point’ look you think you’ve ever received. You hold a serious face for approximately half a second, then burst into laughter again, doubling over on yourself, then falling backwards onto the ground so your lungs have the space to make use of the air you so desperately need. Tears trickle down from the corners of your eyes and run into your hairline.

 It would appear that you are either looking hilarious (which admittedly is not hard to do since this is, well, you), or something equally funny is going on, because Sans’ deep baritone voice his laughing along with you. “áine,  _ áine. _ can you not take anything seriously for longer than ten seconds??” He wheezes and your giggles hiccup their way into your laughs, making you sound even sillier than before.

 You regret nothing.

 “so,” Sans begins again after another minute or so of mutual laughter, “you can’t actually read minds. right?” You take a deep breath and let it out slowly, effectively calming the last of your unbridled giggles down.

 “Nope. I’m just really good at guessing and sometimes at social cues. Plus, more often than not, it’s fairly obvious how someone is going to react if you get to know them well enough. I think our little healing pow wow gave me a bit more insight on you than you might have realized, Sans.” You sigh, feeling a bit drained as you look back up at the sky. “Again, I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable.”

 You don’t bother looking over with your peripherals to gauge Sans’ reaction. He shifts somewhere beside you and you zone out so much that you don’t even notice he’s sitting right next to you until he pokes your sides and you jump with a half shriek, half laugh. Sans is flabbergasted for a moment, then his grin goes wide. “you aren’t… you aren’t  _ ticklish _ , are ya áine?”

 You look at him with a deadpan stare. “Not if you still want those answers.”

 He chuckles and waves you down. “k, k. i got it. uhm, where were we with the questions?”

 You think for half a moment. “I finished telling you my age and how your other questions made no sense because I’m pretty obviously still alive.”

 “oh yeah.” Sans nods and leans over, resting his skull on a propped up arm. “so i asked that because it’s just… weird that you’re able to still be alive. i mean, most monsters will die after a couple hundred years or so, unless they’re boss monsters. there’s no set expiration date there, y’know? but you’re all… fleshy. don’t fleshy beings die a lot earlier than other… canorals?”

 You weren’t really expecting that. But you suppose it is a fairly legitimate question coming from Sans, who has a body made entirely of magic. “Well, I can see where you’re coming from here. But you’re comparing the body of a vocchron to one of a human. Humans have no magic, and therefore their bodily composition is weaker without the support of magic that we vocchrones have. Also, there is a basic lifetime expectancy of approximately 1000 years for the average vocchron. There are some of us that will live for much longer, obviously. But to tell you the truth, I wasn’t supposed to last more than that initial 1000. Probably not even past 700.” You pull your hat off and set it beside you after smoothing some wrinkles out of it. “But that changed when I started messing around with my soul and doing some… likely rather questionable things with it.” You shrug. “Next question, Small-and-portable.”

 You look over at him when he doesn’t respond right away. He has many questions. You know as much from the way he looked at you earlier. But silence is not what you were expecting.

 He’s looking at you with concern etched into his expression. “... are… are you gonna be alright áine?”

  _What is he talking about–? Oh._ He must think that you’re either going to die any moment, or your soul is heavily damaged. You nod thoughtfully. “Yeah I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m just going to up and die on you any time soon, you know? My soul and I are fine now. Ironically, I’ve become much more stable because of those risky dares and experiments.”

 He seems to breathe a sigh of relief and you almost laugh. Breathing. He’s a skeleton, so he obviously doesn’t need to breathe. Still, skele see skele do huh? “stars áine, you had me worried there for a second. Okay so i’m gonna ask what you did to your soul and why it’s so weird. Also, why do you have problems with asking people around you for help?”

 You huff slightly at that last question and pout a little. “Sheesh Sans. You’re not cute at all.”

 “huh?” Sans looks at you, utterly confounded. “since when were we talking about anything like that?”

 You chuckle slightly. “We weren’t. You’re just really direct.” Sans rolls his eyes and you grin a little. “Okay. So. My soul.” You pause, “wow. Where do I even start with this?” Your mind races with memories and old experiments. “Well, I guess I should ask you first. How much do you want to know, and how much detail do you want?”

 He stares at you for a moment, then responds with a deadpan expression. “yes.”

 You snort and pull the two of you into your workshop. After Sans adjusts himself onto a workbench again, you actually pull out your soul. For the first half minute or so that it’s out, you simply inspect and observe it. It’s the usual indigo blue, with your always raw magic swirling around within it. That’s the first obvious abnormality about your soul. No other soul is composed of raw, undefined magic. The second very noticeable thing is the multiple other soul colours swirl primarily outside of your soul, very different to the usual soul that would keep the coloured soul orbs within it’s hold. With a mildly amused smile, you note that your yellow is dominating the rest of the spheres again.  _ Of course it is. I’ve always been somewhat justice oriented. _

 You almost get lost in thought, then you recall that Sans is in here with you. … You should probably start explaining what’s going on with your soul. “Earth to Sans.” You poke his cheekbone while he stares at your soul.

 With a jump, Sans looks back at you and blushes. “S’rry for starin’. it’s just… why does your soul  _ look _ like that?” He asks in wonder, awe, and embarrassment. You chuckle.

 “Hold your horses, Sans-afras. One question at a time here pal.” You nudge him playfully with your elbow and he sends you back a smile for the pun. “So, this is my soul. You know, in case you hadn’t already figured that out yet.” He snorts. You grin. “It didn’t used to look like this. See all of that chaotic raw magic running in my soul? Well, it is my magic, and a lot of it. Condensed form. I’ve got a rather crazy magical nature that means my personal magical expression has no natural shape without my own intentional input. You use your magic for attacks and it shows up as bones right? Obviously with the occasional Gaster Blaster, but that’s besides the point.” He nods, listening intently and looking at your soul curiously again.

 “Well, while you’re fighting, you don’t have to think about making your magic look like a set of bones. Your magic naturally wants to go ahead and become like that on it’s own. Mine has no such preference. Therefore, I am one of the very few magic shapeshifters.”

 Sans turns his head back to look at you so sharply that you worry his skull might not stay attached to his neck vertebrae. “you  _ what? _ ” He looks at you with wide and astonished eyes. “i thought that was impossible!”

 You chuckle at his reaction and shrug your shoulders again. “That’s me. Miss Impossible. Wait, that’s got a really bad connotation huh?” You start giving it some serious thought, but stop when Sans chuckles and nudges you like you had him earlier.

 “how about we stay on topic this time?” He grins at you cheekily and you stick your tongue out at him.

 “No way. That’s clearly the most boring way to live life other than always being too serious.” He rolls his eyes, but waits quietly for you to continue. “Anyways. So I can change my magic to look like, be, or do anything that I want it too. Like the jack of all trades, except I excel at all of them. But as a kid, it wasn’t quite the same. I was always a little risky with my magic, which got me into trouble sometimes, even if I wasn’t nearly as powerful as I am now.” You stare at your soul as you speak, and make it turn around so that the both of you can finally see the back. It’s got a spiderweb like series of cracks starting from the centre and going out.

 The cracks are filled with pure white.

 “But the time I almost shattered my entire soul was the worst of them all. It changed everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [You made it to the end of the chapter again! Woohoo!
> 
> My comment monster Andrew loves the comments and snacks they bring with them so don't feel shy! (I don't let him eat much junk food otherwise.)
> 
> Remember that you are unique and there is someone out there who needs that light you have!
> 
> Never let yourself think that you aren't enough.  
> ~pS <3 ]


	7. Angsty Story Time Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jumping headfirst into your soul's memories is going to need some background info.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _'You watch the memory reluctantly. "That was the first mistake."_
> 
>  
> 
>  _He observes you studying_ her, _the memory-child-version of yourself, with a weary kind of sadness. "first mistake huh?"'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm sorry about the last chapter (and probably for this one as well). I re-read part of it and I can honestly say that it was rather poorly written. Ugh. I might go back and make it less cringe-worthy later if I can find any spare time.  
> Well, moving on. I wanted to extend this chapter more (you'll probably notice that it is much shorter than my usual chapters), but it's been a bit of a rough time and I figured that giving you paitent readers at least something was better than nothing after. Especially since this is so late, and my updating system is a little corrupted right now. I'll still aim for at least one chapter a week, but it could very well take a fortnight to really get something together worth putting up.  
> Thank you for being paitent and reading!
> 
> Enjoy. :•)  
> ~pS

**_“But the time I almost shattered my entire soul was the worst of them all. It changed everything.”_ **

 

  
 As Sans looks at you—your much younger self—he notices the distinct differences between the past and present.

 She’s shorter. Much shorter in this memory. Her hair is shorter, her hands are smaller, her overall height is just…

 Small.

 “you’re as smol as frisk and chara. how old even are you at this point?” He turns to look at you and you shrug.

 “Maybe sixty-eight-ish?” Áine-The-Elder whispers with careful hushed volume back to him. “But Sans, you really shouldn’t speak too loud in here. My soul memories? Well, I’ve accidentally spoken to myself and interacted with myself through soul memories. It’s… risky. To say the least.”

  _are you serious right now?_ He looks at you with surprise and a minor eyeroll, but hardly with much disbelief. As that he thinks about it, it’s not too out there. Considering the fact that it is you and your soul being spoken about here.

 Aaaaaand he missed what the elegant woman just said. _uh, what you signed rather_. “one more time?” He whispers softly next to you.

  **Can I start a mental link with you? We only share intentional thoughts that we would otherwise have said aloud to each other.** You sign carefully and quickly. He blinks a few times after translating, and nods. The calming and heavy feeling of your magic presses carefully against his mind, waiting for… something?

 “áine... what are you waiting for?” Sans whispers again.

 You roll her eyes with a grin. **For you to meet my magic, smarty. It won’t be a two-way call otherwise.**

 “oh.” _well i suppose that makes sense_. “alright.” He pulls his magic to meet yours and there’s a soft click and your voice pours into his mind.

  _“Hey there Sans. Can you hear me alright?”_ Áine’s voice echoes softly like ripples across an otherwise still body of water.

 “y-yeah.” He responds outloud, more than a little surprised. Even though he knew it was going to happen, it’s still a little jolting. He hears you giggle in his skull. _“what is it?”_ This time he actually tries to think the thought to you. Apparently it works.

  _“You’re just so funny. It’s like looking at a kid in the candy store or something. ‘whoa, what even is this chick?’ is the kind of face you’re making here.”_

 He snorts. _that was a terrible impersonation._ _she got the influx and such, mostly. but her voice is nowhere deep enough to make that anything but hilarious_. _“that was awful, áine. hardly even sounded like me.”_ You chuckle in response. It’s a nice sound he decides. _like a lighthearted song._ _not overpowering or loud like paps and undyne, not even tittering like tori’s. just bubbly and lyrical._

  _“I could match my voice to yours, but that would actually be really creepy. So I’d rather not. Unless I’m pranking you or your crush. Since I’m sure you’ve got one of those, right Sans?”_

 He rolls his eye lights and turns back to the ongoing memory. _“whatever you say, pal. anyways, what’d i miss?”_

 You hum amusedly. _“Well, I was writing down my notes from the last experiment I tried using my magic, and prepping for my next experiment using both my magic and soul reserves to see if that makes my magic anymore… flexible. I’m just a junior half-pint right here, so at this point in time my magic still has a half form. I’ve not become a complete magic shapeshifter yet, my magic is just way more flexible than others. I’m testing the limits, and seeing how far I can go.”_

 He watches you from the memory as she scribbles something down, muttering to herself. “No, that’s a bit too extreme. If I used that much of my reserves right off the bat I’d turn myself into a fucking vegetable as a better outcome of a shitty select few.” He’s about to make a comment about little-memory-you swearing, when he catches sight of what she’s written.

 It’s all in WingDings.

 His jaw drops. _“you can write in wingdings?!”_

 Áine laughs in his mind and doubles over, shaking with how hard it is to restrain the laughter to the connection only. _“O-oh my gosh Sans! Your face! Yes, I can write in ‘WingDings’ but that isn’t what it was originally called! I made it up, then gave the key to your dad to use so we could work together on all our science-y stuff not too long before you showed up. It didn’t have a name at that point other than 'that language that Áine uses' or whatever, so we just named it after him since I didn’t want it named after me. Besides, Gaster has always been so uptight and repetitive that we figured he could be a font: always the same no matter how many ways you change up the order.”_ You snort with uncontrollable giggles again.

 He pauses, then has to bite his hand to stop himself from laughing out loud. _"it's funny ‘cuz it's so true."_ He makes out amidst the laughter. With a side glance to the non-memory version of Áine as your giggles die down , he catches how your expression slowly slips from cheeky and happy, to solum and quietly sad. _"... you okay there?"_ He follows your gaze to your past self. Your little self is... _"wait, are you condensing the magical residue in the air using only your hands?"_ That is the stupidest thing he's ever heard of.

_no one should be able to do that._

 You sigh. _"Yeah. That's what I'm doing right there.”_

  _oh, of freaking course. only you áine._ _only you._

 He rolls his eye-lights exasperatedly while you continue. _“I made a pull specifically for magic and used a filter web of my own magic to make sure it was a pure as possible. Like a magnetic or gravitational pull that only affects specific object, I guess. Honestly, it wasn't all that difficult to do even back then while my magic still had some magical structure. But it's not like that fact made it any safer. Condensing magic that quickly and purely in such a small area, without protection, was not a safe thing for me to try back then."_ You watch the memory reluctantly. _"That was the first mistake."_

 He observes you studying _her,_ the memory-child-version of yourself, with a weary kind of sadness. _"first mistake huh?"_

  _You nod. "I was running on my soul's last reserves anyways, and although concentrating that much magic energy from this air is not incredibly difficult to do in StoneArch, it still took more out of me than I could afford in order to safely go through with the experiment. But I was still rather brash and... unadvised; consequences were not often in my scope of concern.”_

 Sans shoots you a startled and worried. _Did she have some kind of death wish?!_

 You clearly notice his alarm and shake your head quickly. _“No, no. I wasn’t like that! It’s not as though I wanted to die, it’s just that I didn’t especially… care too much either way?”_ He still watches her carefully as she explains. _“I was in a rather apathetic stage there. Most vocchrones can’t exactly understand what it’s like to not have their own magical signature and character building aided through that, let alone the general canoral populus. But besides that, there wasn’t much knowledge on how souls with permanently underdeveloped soul signature expressions worked. Most who had them had no idea that it was even a reality. Few were able to help, and even fewer even recognised that this was a real problem that couldn’t be solved through normal means. As such, most everyone in the magical community always questioned me rather unforgivingly while I was outside of my little hideaway as to why I hadn’t started on a path of specific learning, or why I was so far behind in my magical development. They always almost always asked with an edge, as though I were bad for not trying or as though I were... beneath them for it. It definitely… hurt. To say the least. So I decided to stop caring. Mostly.”_

 Sans frowns. After a moment of careful consideration, he concludes that he can’t really say anything of help or comfort at this point, and instead chooses to look back to little you. She’s finished condensing the now glowing magic energy. Carefully, the swirling mass of tangible power is placed in a glass-like jar and you seal it with a cork-screw lid. The white and dotted multicoloured… cross of confusingly solid _and_ liquid magic, swirls in an organized chaos. At least, that’s how it was in appearance anyways. Who knows what was really going on with it. _“so. uh. what makes this… experiment,”_ he shudders slightly from the wording, _“so, uhm._ different _from the others? in the sense that it becomes as pivotal as you claim it to be.”_ He asks hesitantly, sensing that this might be thin ice he’s treading on.

 You just shrug nonchalantly, not looking away from the memory. _“I was already injured before starting this. My soul was, I mean.”_ Sans’ eyes widen in alarm and worry. _she was_ W H A T _?!_  “ _I had just been pushing myself to the edge of complete exhaustion where I knew I was mere moments from passing out entirely or worse.”_

 He fights the urge to groan, roll his eyes at the stupidity of such ‘experiment’s, and out right hold his skull in his hands. _she actually did not care if she died. at all. forcing continual stress on an exhausted and likely cracked soul is like asking for death._ He realises he’s shaking slightly in frustration and almost anger when he clenches his fists. With an effort far greater than he had thought it would take, he unclenches his fists and stops the shaking as best he can.

 You fold your hands across your abdomen in the midst of a pause and sighs again with fatigue, a jaded expression flickering across your face while lost in unpleasant thought. _“My soul had shown strength in the past, as well as a resistance to… well, debilitating cracking. I wasn’t wishing to do anything incredibly extreme, but I did want to know my limits.”_

 Sans turns to look again at the memory, his temper rising with irritation not lightly quelled. _she knows–no. she_ knew _even back at this time how risky and stupid this is. “didn’t your parents care at all that you were doin’ this kind of stuff to your soul?”_ The question pops up in his mind and he almost blurts it out incredulously through the link. When he sneaks a peak back towards you, he stiffens. Áine’s posure has crumbled, ever so slightly, from the usual confident, relaxed, and upright stance she usually takes. _wrong question, bonehead._ Sans scolds himself.

  _“Well,”_ you start with a faltering tone. _“I-. ...They, uhm. They weren’t around. In my life. Ah, ever, really.”_ He watches you rub your arm absently, face mostly blank but still portraying a disgruntled frown displaying the rest of her body language as a little… edgy. He almost starts to make a telepathic comment, when Áine speaks up again instead. _“Uhm, I only knew them for a couple of years, to tell you the truth.”_ Her voice is quiet in his mind, quiet enough that he might even consider the tone to be hesitant and maybe not... entirely forthcoming. Although the fact—truly a bit of a wrenching one to be sure—explains in itself why you might be uncomfortable, it still seems as though there’s more to the story than meets the eye. Yet clearly, she’d rather not release any more information presently.

 With a nod, Sans turns back to the memory and decides to leave the strain of conversation at that. For now. As he focuses back in on what’s happening, he notices little memory you is writing down a report quickly; a syringe, pencil with a fresh pad of paper, strange object with unusual mechanics, and the jar of swirling barely contained chaotic magical energy all lined up neatly in front of her. Curiosity taking over, he wanders around till he’s just behind little you, and peeks over her shoulder in attempt to catch a glimpse of what is being neatly scribbled down.

 ‘  ... If all goes well  with this injection, I’ll be able to see just how far I can maleate my soul using a large injection (5.0 mL) of external raw magic. By equation and theoretical determinations, this amount should be enough to test limits of my magic capacity without going too far yet. Upon success, I should be able to conclude how much to use for the next experiment, as well as discover the ultimate flexibility of my magical signature.’ 

 His head snaps up to look meet your eyes with fear and anger churning within himself. _how could she give her life so little value? she’s intelligent beyond her time, clearly. yet she thinks so little of herself that death is hardly of importance? an’ those around her are looking down at her with disapproval like she ain’t enough?_ “exactly what are you about to do here áine?” He asks aloud, with a quiet voice full of power.

 Before you can give more of a response than a shocked and anxious—or maybe just incredulous?—look, the girl he’s standing behind whips around, rather sharp and handcrafted surgeon's knife in her palm, and scans the room swiftly in a flexible fighting stance. Her eyes stop on Sans, but still mostly look through him. “... If I am messing with myself again through means I am yet to have an understanding of yet again, I swear I will fucking do _something_ off script. I should know more than anyone else that I hate being observed, even by myself from the future unknown to myself.”

 Sans remains silent and utterly frozen. Even in memory, he finds your eyes piercing and calculating. Although, with this younger version of yourself, that soft and friendly and mischievous look your 7000+ year old self holds within her eye, is not present in any way. _...just what kind of a childhood did this kid even have in order to get a hawkish glare like that?_ He sighs internally and visibly relaxes by a touch when she, the almost crudely dressed gal in front of him, turns around once more and rigidly returns to writing. It’s difficult to not find himself worried about what kind of hell you must have lived and ferociously tore your way through, to manage coming out the strong and steadfast person you are today.

  _"...you,"_ he starts again, using the connection this time as he realises something. _"you had it rough enough that you almost entirely disassociated with all other life forms?"_ His question is asked softly, suddenly careful and hoping that his words don't disrupt the youngling in front of him.

 To Sans' great dismay, you just shrug casually and without much depth to thought. _as though this is completely, utterly, fine and normal._ He almost says something again, but finds himself distracted again as your smaller self stands and puts down the pencil and notes precisely.

 "Since I'm sure you're still around, my oh ever-so-observant and shadow-keeping-self, I will infer that this moment is fairly significant and worth the while. I'll take that as a compliment and an encouragement. That or I'll almost die or something, and need you to save the day and sweep me off my fight. Or, you know, some other bullshit reason like needing to ‘rescue’ me like some damn fucked up damsel in distress." She rolls her eyes, continuing with morbid sarcasm. "Like my discontinuity of existence would honestly be so tragic, with how things are going now with that shitty council and overbearing mourning groups and disapproving assholes who don't, and pitifully—no, _consistently_ —refuse, to understand. Yeah, it'd totally be a massive tragedy if I just vanished from the universe without a trace." She chuckles darkly as she looks around the cave-room once more.

 You smirk and Sans looks between both you and her with inadequately disguised horror. _"you thought_ W H A T _about yourself?"_ He growls out, voice just barely contained to the mental link between the both of you. He knows his eye lights have gone out, and his trained and ever-constant smile becoming strained and threatening to become a true frown.

 You give him a look. He can tell without much effort that it's one of those presumably rare 'Don't look at me in that tone of voice' looks that's split between complete and deadly ( _oh stars, it is really_ not _the time for death puns_ ) seriousness, mingled with the mild humour that comes from such almost paradoxical statements. _“Sans, remember how I was saying earlier that I was pretty much on my own with zero support? Well when you’re a kid on your own, entirely disregarded and unappreciated, the only way to protect yourself seems to be to close yourself off to the rest of the world. People like you less, sure. But it doesn’t change much if no one really liked you anyways. Not for a long while in anycase.”_

 That comment hurts him. It tugs at his very soul with an irrefutable insistence. It almost pains him as much as losing Papyrus did that first round before the resets. _“... but you never gave up. did you?”_ he asks quietly through the link. You look up at him, with that funny startled look that he finds himself considering to be entertaining enough to make a goal out of. Even in his peaceful moment of reverence for a woman who pulled through her own depression, anger, resentment towards the world, and apathy to live for thousands of years after with strength and grace. He still for some reason, finds things about you that make him feel lighter and as though he wants to have goals to make you laugh or make funny faces just like that.

  _you’re such a powerhouse of spunk,_ _áine_ _._ His grin tugs ever so slightly into a smile of silent respect and admiration.

  _“Uhm, no. I guess.”_ You respond with almost hesitant while soft voice across the link. _“I mean, there were certainly times where it all seemed pointless and I wasn’t sure why I was trying anymore. There were a couple of decades where I stopped caring about what happened to me entirely and I hardly looked after myself at all.”_

 Sans frowns a little again. “áine... why are you sharing all of this with me?” His voice breathes out in a hushed manner. You blink in response while the memory twitches amidst preparing a syringe-looking tool with the condensed magic from the jar.

  _“Oh.”_ You start off as tactfully as he usually does. _“Well, there’s just a balance in all things Sans. I saw you. I watched some of the highest key memories to what built you and your character, along with the trauma. The Universe will require a balance to my knowledge of you in some way shape or form eventually. Personally, I would rather not procrastinate that return to equity. Since, well. The Universe tends to show you that it will demand the scales to be set back through… whatever methods it takes, really.”_ You fold your arms and lean your weight onto one leg, popping your hip out to one side. With a small smile, you regard him with what he knows to be kind eyes, full of understanding and clarity. _“Besides that, I don’t mind sharing this with you. If you had asked me about this or most anything else out of the blue, I probably would have told you regardless. Still,”_ you frown a little, _“if this is making you uncomfortable, just let me know and I’ll pull us out. There’s no need to make yourself feel ill at ease for no reason.”_

 With a moment of consideration, Sans shakes his head. _“‘m fine áine. more worried ‘bout you really.”_ He shrugs, feeling a little sheepish.

 Then you both tense when a blinding light of vibrant dark blue steals all other colours from the room, besides the multicoloured condensed magic in the jar and syringe. He covers his eyes from the taxing brightness and takes a quick glance over to you, making sure that you’re alright. When he finds that you aren’t even covering your eyes at all and instead are looking almost excitedly at what is taking place between himself and your present self. _“Oh! This is the part where I almost die, but I still can’t exactly remember what really happens besides somehow, someone ended up saving me.”_

 Sans looks at you in surprise. Your earnest expression and sparkling excitement building as you bite your lip, probably in attempt to hide a wide smile. _you’re failin’ horribly at coverin’ up that wild grin of yours áine._ He chuckles silently to himself, eye-lights flicking between your enthusiastic and absent-mindedly bouncing self, and _her._ The one holding that syringe-like thing to her soul. The one that makes him nervous.

 Her soul is exposed to the room. It dawns on him that the light isn’t actually going to hurt his eyes, especially since this is a memory. Slowly, he drops his arm and looks up at the floating heart-shaped soul simultaneously brightening and darkening the cave room. _hers is a darker blue than yours_ , he discerns with rampant curiosity. Then he notices the deeper shifts in her soul and feels his own soul sutter, eyes wide. There are cracks, nicks, and bruises all along her pulsating soul. It looks almost on the edge of collapsing in on itself, if not shattering all together.

  _“áine, i, uh. i hate to rain on your parade here, but you… you aren’t going to even try to stop yourself from not doing this or anything? an’ you never told me what you were really going to accomplish here. what exactly is about to happen?”_  He whispers with swift urgence over the telepathic line. _if she dies in this memory, that’ll mean the end for her now right?_ Panic shoots through him, making his soul swell with magic in readiness to… well to fight, but not with a real intent to fight. Just to do _something._

 You stop and look at him, eyes slowly dragging away from… whatever it is _she_ is checking up on before she decides to plunge it into her soul. _“Sans,”_ your voice is gentle and calm, _“I wasn’t asked to stop before, and I know I wouldn’t have listened to myself anyways. I’m a bit prideful in that way.”_ He notes your dry chuckle with the beginnings of what he’s sure will only develop into hundreds of questions to add to the pile he already has building up.

  _“Before I get too off track, I’ll give you a… summary of what variables are at play here. My soul is already rather compromised at this moment in time, and I’m about to inject it with the compressed, excess energy from other’s souls and their signatures, which were just hanging around in the air and earth since I was unwittingly standing underneath a rather ancient and forgotten ley-line. Aside from that, although I had calculated extensively that the amount of atmospheric and general habitational magic that I should be able to handle before hand… I hadn’t accounted for the fact that there would be multiple magical_ signatures _at play as well, rather than just pure magic energy in it’s rawest form, having no true signature._

 _“Anyways. Truth be told, although this next part hurts much more than I had at the time anticipated, I wouldn’t take it back for the world. It’s part of what makes me who I am today. I may have developed a lot of magical strength, stamina, and potential before this point as a kid, but I never had any way to actually put it to use. I felt that I was useless and hopeless. I was strong, sure. But that made no difference when it came down to performance. After this horrid experiment though, I was able to move forward with technique and progress substantially for the first time in my whole life. That opened my eyes. I was no longer useless, without hope or purpose in my existence. I could finally feel_ alive _and_ worth more _than those ugly glares of disapproval on the street. This was my first step towards realising I could change my situation on my own and make something of my own destiny.”_

 Your smile quirks up as your eyes seem to shine with the confidence that you have surely fought hard to gain since this dark moment in your long life. In this brief moment, Sans catches a glimpse of your true fighting, persevering, dedicated, kind, intelligent, and probity-rich strength. Without his having to pry a look at your soul, you relinquished your character to him willingly. No hesitation. As though it were simply and thoughtless as breathing to you. It stuns him into silence, mind scrambling.

  _do you really have nothing you feel you truly need to hide from the world áine? from those around you? can it really be so easy to wear your every truth on your sleeve like that?_

 He startles out of his awe and surprise when you wink at him and look back to the the scene playing out before the two of you. “Wish me luck, me.” She mutters and without another second of hesitation, she plunges the needle-looking end of the syringe-like device into her soul. Sans freezes, and all goes deafeningly silent. You tense and turn to him, speaking aloud. “I’m sorry, this is going to be rough to take part in, from any and all angles and perspectives.” Your voice is not much more than a sorrowful whisper, but it is enough to reach _her_ ears.

 Hardly a second passes and the bloodcurdling screaming starts; followed by a cracking, near _shattering_ sound that with clarity, pierces the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Whoa! You did it again! You read the entire chapter through!
> 
> If there are any mistakes that you notice or things that don't add up/make sense, let me know. I'd hate to leave a multitude of agitating errors for you all to have to read through. (Heheh. Agitating Errors...)
> 
> Thanks again!  
> ~pS :•) ]


	8. Angsty Story Time Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quiche man.
> 
> Quiche is the key.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, a shorter chapter. I blame it on my lack of spare time and zero planned plot.
> 
> Thank you all again for reading and commenting. It means the world to me. :•)
> 
> See you at the end!  
> ~pS

**_Hardly a second passes and the bloodcurdling screaming starts; followed by a cracking, near shattering sound that with clarity, pierces the air._ **

  
  


 You remember this. It was hell. The pain was so angry and brutal and fierce that you couldn’t do any more than force yourself to remain conscious; fearing that falling asleep or passing out would ultimately lead to an irreversible doom. Likely death.

 

* * *

  
 He watches her. It’s terrifying and difficult to look at.   _it’s not- i can’t- i can hear her_ soul S C R E A M I N G. He looks over at you, not able to bear watching you suffer for the time being. You look like the epitome of calm. The only thing that shows you are in fact aware of what is happening, is the sad and pained expression you wear. But you’re not _doing_ anything. Just watching. And _waiting_ . As if it’s totally okay for your past self to suffer like this. As if it’s totally okay to just wait as _she_ has her soul shattered and torn apart.

 He looks back to _her_ and to his horror recognizes that the exposed soul is cracking and shattering at a rapid pace. _if this keeps up long enough, she really will die. whoever is supposed to be coming, had better show up soon._ His brow furrows with worry as seconds pass by like hours, his fear for no one actually showing up to help her grows.

 _"áine. are you sure that someone is going to find and help you?"_ Anxiety builds and it's all he can do to keep his still rather new and much higher powered, churning magic from all out activating.

 You frown as your eyes slip away from her to look him in the eye-sockets. _"I don't know Sans. I remember the feeling that someone else was there, but I can't remember who or how about it. I remember a burst of light, seeing someone's arms around me with maybe a glimpse of myself being surprised, and then everything went white. When I woke up I was tucked into my bed, soul all patched up, and… there was evidence that someone else had tidied up and made me food. That quiche was the first bit of evidence I got since my parents that someone really cared about me.”_ Your story is rushed, but the moment you mention a quiche, Sans has to do a double take.

_oh._

_you gotta be kiddin’._

_th’ answer’s that simple?_

 His magic has been fluctuating ever since the moment he realized the possibility of _her_ and therefore inevitably _your_ death too; with this last bit of revelation though, he finally realizes what he needs to do. _“hey áine, i’m gonna fix all’a this.”_ He grins when you blink blankly in response. Then again, it’s not like he really gave you much time to respond anyways. Vaguely, he notes how the screaming has stopped and been replaced with hoarse whimpering of extreme pain and fatigue. Without a second thought, he moves forwards, hands cupping the shattering soul without directly touching it.

 “you’re safe kid. you c’n relax now, i gotcha.” With that, he finally releases his near overflowing magic, a concentrated light blue glowing around his hands and her soul.

 

 Your soul.

 

* * *

 

 

 It takes you a moment, to properly comprehend the staggering events that just changed _everything._

 It was Sans. He was the one who saved you on that day when you carelessly took things too far. Part of you is conflicted, probably still in shock, and argues that this must be wrong and someone else is going to show up any second, totally confused, and immediately take Sans’ place. But it is only a small, constantly worrying part in your mind that is overwhelmed in seconds by the rest of you realizing how _right_ it feels. It’s almost like you’ve known it was and always would be Sans who does this for you in your biggest moment of weakness.

 Man, the Universe sure likes it’s unexpected plot twists to your life. Then again, you feel as though you’ve somehow, miraculously, found favor with the strange not-quite-entity-energy-something you eventually decided to call Universe over the centuries.

 You watch with spell-bound awe and intensity as Sans— _somehow_ —stitches your soul back together with the utmost care and gentleness. It’s obvious how much he is concentrating on not missing a piece, but also undoubtedly focused on never actually touching your soul with his nimble hands—even by accident. The fact makes you smile. He’s a good guy, you know that from healing him earlier. But it really shows his character right now, in person, to see how steadfast he is.

 Although it can’t have been more than thirty seconds since he started, already the exhausted whimperings of pain from your younger self have died down to gentle breathing, only occasionally stuttered with a tired, jumpy breath here and there. It warms your heart and makes you smile. Watching memories is one thing, but interacting with a person makes the reality of how they are, more personal and believable.

 You're glad that Sans grew up to be such an amazing person. You're glad that the barrier was finally ready to be broken down. You're sure that Gaster and ****** would be proud of their son.

 With an internal sigh you choose not to relay over the telepathic connection with Sans, you flinch at the pain in your mind. Memory loss and memory tampering is the next thing you’re going to figure out how to  work through. Because this constant memory gappage is a major headache.

 Haha. Headache.

 Oh this feeling _sucks_. 

 

* * *

 

 If he's to be completely honest, Sans has no idea what he's actually doing. Consciously, he is totally winging all of this. But his newly healed soul knows; it knows exactly what to do.

 Somehow.

 A fact of which he is nevertheless very grateful for presently. Screwing up her soul while it’s shattering would probably not help you stay alive. At all. It might even make you worse or crippled.

 Still, consciously he remains aware of how far away his hands are from her soul. He doesn’t want to touch it, for multiple reasons. Firstly that he really just _doesn’t_ want to. He has no desire to do more than he already is. Especially since he doesn’t really know this version of you. Stars, he hardly knows _you_ as you are right now. Besides the fact that you’re incredibly powerful and you’re older than he thought would be legitimately possible for any besides boss monsters like himself.

 Yeah. But other reasons.

 The soul is an incredibly personal and private thing. He hasn’t even known you for more than probably four hours. If that. It would be more than inappropriate to actually touch your soul right now. He’s not that kind of guy anyways.

 But what does fascinate him, is the fact that your soul’s magic is becoming more and more chaotic. It had more of a vague pulsing rhythm before he began healing, but as he continues through his soul’s instruction alone, he can sense that your soul is changing it’s original beat. It’s like switching between different songs, never deciding on a single one. Until eventually it’s switching too fast to hold any kind of pattern. It seems totally wrong, but his soul doesn’t seem to find too much issue with it. If anything, his soul is encouraging the change while it builds a white almost plaster-like sticky substance that hardens pliabley as it stitches your soul back together.

 What even the heck. He doesn’t even know what can be deemed as normal with you anymore.

 As he finishes up healing the massive cracks in your soul, he finally has the awareness and attention span to realize that you had moved her to a softer location, namely her bed of sheep’s skin, and have already healed her injuries. Now finished, he brings the patched up soul to you, handing it over gently and with care, as to not touch it in the pass off.

 You smile at him warmly. “Thank you Sans.”

 He blushes a little, feeling a little embarrassed for just jumping in and messing around with your soul, even if it helped and was going to happen anyways. _she’s... stars she’s never going to be any less of a riddle, is she?_ He sighs and recovers from the previous blushing, watching relaxedly as you do something with the soul, then place it gently back in her chest. She sighs softly in her sleep and the colour returns to the memory-room.

 “Hey Sans,” you whisper quietly to him as you get up and begin cleaning up the cave-room-house-place. “What was it that made you realize you were the one who needed to help me and not someone else?”

 “oh.” He shuffles a little sheepishly and pulls out his phone, removing a quiche from his storing app. “you mentioned a quiche and i made one the other day… it just kinda clicked y’know?” He mumbles and shrugs, placing it on the low rock table not too far away from himself.

 You chuckle. “That is amazing. Of course that’s what they key was to this chain-reaction healing time circle. I owed you for healing my soul, and you owed me for healing yours. All triggered by a homemade quiche.” You roll your eyes and continue to whisper as you tidy up. “Because this all totally happens on normal days or something.”

 He chuckles softly with you and nods, glancing back at her. “mhm. totally.”

 With a flourish, you put the last few scraps of garbage in the rubbish bin along the far wall and smile, dusting off your hands. “Well I do believe it’s time for us to go. We’ve tampered with time quite enough now I think for one day.” You smile and press a quick kiss to your past self’s forehead, murmuring a quick ‘it gets better, I promise,’ then hold your hand out to him. “Ready?”

 He chuckles again and takes your hand, noting the calluses and rough texture of your skin against his smooth, boney phalanges. You must be a really hard worker, despite your magical advantage. “sure thing, a.”

 With a grin, you pull the both of you out of the memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tada! The end!
> 
> Okay, but only the end of the chapter. LoL
> 
> Let me know what you thought and if you've got any ideas or if there are any mistakes in the text you just read.
> 
> Any guesses on what ******'s name might be? (Hint: it isn't quite a font.)
> 
> You are incredible and totally worth every kindness.  
> ~pS :•) ]


	9. Jack, Why is my House Trashed?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Jack what happened to my house?" You mutter vaguely then sigh. "Oh I am going to give him and anyone else who helped him a reckoning they’ll not forget for a long while.” You speak up sarcastically then sigh and roll your eyes at the mess with a tired but amused grin. “Kidding. But I am going to have a word with this lot as to why these are here and why they haven’t been put away yet. Jack more than the rest, but that’s not really important. Yet anyways.” You chuckle with a glint in your eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm puting this up in a bit of a rush this morning and I'll likely come back to edit any problems later.
> 
> Still, sorry for this being so late; these updates will probaby take more time with some stuff having gone down recently in my life. More updates will come, but I can only promise sporatically.
> 
> Also: reference to drinking in this chapter and being drunk? Nothing bad really happens but I get that sometimes people want to know these things. :•)
> 
> Make sure you check the end notes for a bonus challenge! (¬u¬)
> 
> Thank you for your support and enjoy the chapter!  
> ~pS :•)

**_With a grin, you pull the both of you out of the memory._ **

 

 “Well.” You take a breath and sit back on one of your workbenches. “That just happened.”

 Sans besides you huffs out a scoff. “no way, really?”

 You giggle and roll your eyes. “Sarcastic bag of bones. Anyways, how are you holding up? That was no little feat of magic back there. You still good?”

 He grunts. “mhm. no idea how i did it, but ‘m fine now. not even tired like i used ta be after expending so much magic. just... mentally worn out a bit.” You look over as he shrugs, eyelids closed. “aside from that though…” he cracks open one eye socket open to side glance at you, “what the heck, a? how does time travel through souls even work? and we just… interfered with your past– _you_ interfered with your past like it was nothing? ‘m... really confused right now.” He sighs and closes his eye again to which, you totally giggle again.

 “I do believe that you’re overthinking things again, Sans dear.” He hums a ‘whatever’ noise at you and this time you scoff, sarcastically presenting an offended persona. “Oh how rude of you Sans! I was only telling you the truth!”

 “yeah, yeah. i know, but you actually explained nothing at all.”

 “Says the guy who would explain any phenomena that happens with monsters with a one word response.” You cough twice, “magic,” you cough twice again and smirk.  

 He chuckles at that. “you got me there áine.”

 “Of course I do. I'm just that good.” You grin once again and titter. “Anyways,” you sigh, “although I'm sure you've got more questions, I do need to look after Agatha and my two other amulet gems. I've gotta at least try to be a decent parent to my semi adopted children.” You feel a little unsure of yourself there. You've never been married, never had your own kids, nor ever even had to actually take care of regular vicchron child for a prolonged period of time. Suddenly being responsible for a couple of new-species kids sounds a little overwhelming.

 As usual, Sans somehow notices how something's up with you.

 Ugh.

 “...you okay there pal?” He asks as he sits up and looks down at you, a flash of concern passing over his face before returning to his neutral-relaxed expression.

 You sigh once more. “Yeah. We'll go with that.” With a tired and almost half-hearted smile, you return his soul back to his body, and yours to your own. You both exit your workshop and find yourselves looking up at the brilliant night sky. "Well," you begin softly, “it was nice seeing you again Sans. I'm glad we finally got you all out. Now, you can still come to this party thing that is likely still going, or I can send you back to your pocket dimension. Or we can do a mix of both. It totally up to you.”

 “oh.” Again? Really? You have to actually try not to laugh this time. Is that just a habit or something? “well, paps is probably going to want a bedtime story pretty soon, but before that... i do think i was signed up to donate some magic to a certain amulet?” He scratches the back of his head sheepishly and nervously grins a little wider.

 You huff out a quiet laugh. You know that he was just finding an excuse to get moving. He doesn’t want to endanger his family and closest friends with his reestablished magic. He already asked to stay the night to hopefully figure out how to work with his magic properly again. But you’ll accept the tiny lie for his sake. “Both it is then." You stand easily and hold out a hand to him. “Let's bounce, skeleboy.”

 He takes your hand and snorts as you pull him up. “nice.”

 You chuckle and with a snap of your fingers you re-draw the Arch to your place, under the both of you. You activate it and you both fall through, grinning wildly at Sans’ flabbergasted expression and startled struggling. Clearly this move of yours had him in a momentary panic, but he calmed down fast enough once he realized what was going on and you had given his boney hand a quick squeeze. That seems enough to calm him down as you softly land in the living room of your stupidly massive house you never use.

 “whoa.” Sans breathes out beside you. You cringe. This place is _massive_ and you’re sure you haven’t been gone more than _twenty minutes max,_ at least for regular time, but Jack has already both tidied and destroyed the interior of your house. You know he tidied up first because there are no covers on the furniture and the blinds are up, even though it’s night outside. Still, your house has been ruined. There’s no way around that fact.

 Well, ruined in the sense that there are clearly a couple of biomes that were re-created here, the walls have morphed into strange cave-like structures, the ceiling now holds _at least_ three different suns, your furniture has adapted qualities suspiciously similar to the hodgepodge and overlapping biomes dispersed throughout the mansion, and the magical density has become almost as heavy as the Underground’s.

 “Jack what happened to my house?" You mutter vaguely then sigh. "Oh I am going to give him and anyone else who helped him a reckoning they’ll not forget for a long while.” You speak up sarcastically then sigh and roll your eyes at the mess with a tired but amused grin. “Kidding. But I am going to have a word with this lot as to why these are here and why they haven’t been put away yet. Jack more than the rest, but that’s not really important. Yet anyways.” You chuckle with a glint in your eye.

 You look down at Sans to see his eye sockets wide and his ever present grin as slack as his jaw. You snort and lift his mandible shut. “Careful now Sans, we wouldn’t want you catching flies or any other projectiles that we’re likely to set off as we travel through to find everyone.”

 He flushes a bright blue and finally turns to look at you in curious wonder, jaw clamped shut as much as possible. “what even happened here a?”

 You shrug. “I mean, I can’t know for sure, but I’m guessing that either someone actually got drunk and their magic went haywire—which had better not have happened or I’ll actually have to give Jack or whoever’s responsible a reckoning—or they were trying to introduce Agatha to the rest of the world? It’s a rather crummy job of it, but it’s also kinda cool I guess.” You take a cautious step forwards from the regular floor of your house onto the sandy desert and oasis in front of you. With a quick pulse of your magic, you gather that no traps are in the immediate vicinity and you’re safe to proceed.

 “it’s possible to do stuff like this regularly here? like, people have the ability to just summon a desert or cave walls whenever they want? and make your house bigger on the inside regularly?” Sans cautiously steps after you, walking casually with his hands in his pockets, still looking around in genuine wonder and mild concern.

 You chuckle as you continue walking through the house into the next biome: tropical rainforest. “Nah, ‘people’ can’t exactly do what you’re seeing here. This is a skill that anyone who isn’t me and a select few can do inherently. It’d cause major problems if vicchron kids were just randomly creating a jungle like this because they wanted a jungle gym or something like that. And although it isn’t a skill many have because they don’t see any practical use for it, it can still be a lot of fun; despite the hard work it often takes to set up even a single biome in the first place.” After a moment of struggling with a web of vines in front of you, that you realise is covering a cliff wall. With an overly dramatic sigh, you create a setup pulley and looped rope with your magic to pull yourself up and over with.

 As you get to the top and swing out of the system you made and step onto solid ground while your magic dissipates, you grin as Sans teleports right next to you casually. You laugh and elbow him, accidentally almost knocking him over. He shouts in surprise, then recovers as he laughs and pushes you over. You stumble a little and your grin widens. Casually, you trip him up with your magic as the two of you fall back in line and walk. He almost faceplants before catching himself and turning to look at you.

 “oh it is _on_ áine.” He grins and you watch in fascination as his left eye goes dark and his right flickers bright blue. You’ve seen this before in the memories, but in person is different as usual. Especially when the intentions are different. But in that moment you’re distracted, Sans catches your soul with his magic and you go floating in the air and he spins you round and round. Each glance of his cheeky and thoroughly amused face has you giggling and ever so thankful that you don’t get dizzy sickness.

 Out of nowhere, in mid flip thank you very much, he drops you. It wouldn’t be dangerous since you’re still spinning, but he goes to catch you again. You smirk and block his magic. His eyes widen in confusion and horror as you’re sure he believes you’re about to fall and at the very least hurt yourself. But you let your years take control and you land on your feet in a crouch.

 “holy- are you okay áine?” He asks, his face riddled with concern, but also incredibly impressed.

 You snort with laughter and try to stand, only to take a few wobbly and uncertain steps forwards. Which only makes you laugh more as you almost walk into a tree, the room still spinning. “I’m _f-fine Sans._ ” You giggle some more and lean against a different tree. Hey, at least you’re still moving forwards at this point. “Don’t be such a mother hen. That’s Tori’s job, right? Oh wait, I goat that wrong. She’s not a chicken at all.”

 Sans just chuckles. Then he starts to laugh. As your dizziness fades away, you look over to see him leaning against a thick stump, shaking and near crying tears of laughter. You grin.

 “What, something got your goat there Sansy?” He falls to his knees, laughing even harder. His deep voice hiccuping and sending loud vibrations through the air with your pun. “Man, I can’t have gotten you stumped can I?” Your grin grows even wider and you snort with laughter as he weakly beats his fist into the ground, gasping for breath between joyous bursts of laughter and light blue tears that drizzle to the ground. “Oh man, this really gets you! I’m not sure about needing to be tree-ding with care or not with puns here. Or can you not take _snow_ more?”

 You manage to get that last line out without your own burst of laughter, but when a laughter recovering Sans looks up to see you pointing over your shoulder and looks at the next snowy biome, he breaks down once more and you fall with him. You not minding him bringing you along in giggles with him because stars if that is not one of the lightest, funniest things you’ve seen in awhile.

 Once you both wrap up the last bout of laughter, recover your breath enough, and can handle looking at each other without bursting into another fit of sporadic giggles, you both meet up in the middle of the lightly trodden path and walk side by side into the next biome.

 Before Sans can step in the snow though, you decide to use some of your magic on him and see if he notices. You create an almost squishy magic platform just above the snow which he steps on and you take a deep breath of the crisp air calmly with a satisfied smile on your face as the two of you walk through the cold icelands. You give a side glance to Sans who still hasn’t noticed that he’s not making a sound as he trudges along, nor that he's left nary a blemish in the fresh snow as you have. After a moment of comfortable silence, a wicked idea pops into your mind. Without further ado, you fling yourself into the snow with a yelp and begin making snow angles, giggling at Sans' befuddled expression.

 “Why not join me Sans? The water's a little chilly out today though. Still, I bet it'll go right through you.” You bite your lip, trying to hold back a smile in anticipation. You fail, mostly. But Sans seems to think you're grinning because you're expecting a reaction to the puns. It's all you can do to keep a mostly straight face when he sits down in front of you, boney legs crossed, keeping eye contact with you the whole time, and tries to grab a handful of snow. He gets the best facial morph from amused to utterly confused as he can't seem to grab the snow he's after. It's then that he looks at his hand and the path you both just took and notices that he's left not a single a footprint on the ground, unlike your messy tracks. His whole body tenses and freezes (ha) then goes limp while this little while eye lights go out.

 “a, is there something that's been following us here or something? is there some sort of trap that's gone off? please tell me that you're seeing this too, yeah?” His voice as a bit of a conflicted edge to it and you hastily put on a mask of concern, looking back where you came from. This'll be good.

 “Uhm, seeing what exactly?” You raise an eyebrow at him, desperately trying not to giggle as he looks back at you, now seriously worried.

 “you're actually telling me that you don't see what the problem is here?”

 “Nope. Just that you're having a bad time and you should probably stop and have some fun.” You shrug as nonchalantly as you can.

 His brow furrows and you can tell he's catching on. So when he's about to say something to you, you silently lift the platform of your magic that he's on quickly, then disperse it when he's a few meters off of the ground. He shouts in surprise and gets a face full of clean snow. You howl with laughter once more as he sits up spluttering and half-heartedly glares at you a moment before chuckling softly. “okay, alright. you got me. i was not expecting that at all.”

 You grin as you quickly stop laughing since your abdominals are starting to really burn from how much you've been laughing. “Man, I'm glad you're such a good sport Sans.” You sigh contently as you sit up. “It makes you way more fun to hang out with.”

 He mock scoffs, dramatically putting a hand over his sternum. “you mean pick on, you big bully.”

 You roll your eyes and giggle lightly. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, shorty Skeleboi. You know you love me and my pranks.”

 He rolls his returned eye lights in good humour. “whatever helps you sleep at night, a.” You both grin for a moment before he asks, “how did you even pull that off without me noticing anyways? it felt like i was walking in snow. and i don't remember feeling any kind of tug on my soul.”

 You smile languidly at him as he adjusts himself more comfortably in the snow. “I never used magic directly on your soul, Sans. That's just really obvious and takes too much work.” He grins at your reference to laziness, yet remains curiously engaged in the conversation, rather than his usual settling down for a nap. “So what I did was basically make an invisible boardwalk out of my magic for you to walk on. It worked since I gave it texture and the magic density is so heavy here it'd hardly be noticed anyways.” You grin as Sans stares at you for a moment, the begins slow clapping.

 “well, i've gotta admit, a. i'm impressed. that was actually really clever.” He shuffles for a moment, then lays back into the  snow next to you, looking up at the pale blue sky with—now that you've counted—five different suns. The moment he lays down though, a loud CLICK echoes, muffled quickly by the snow above it. Sans freezes and you snort.

 “Yeah, hold on a sec and stay right where you are, okay Sans?” He grunts and barely nods in acknowledgement.

 “what is happening exactly?” He asks softly, stiff as a statue as you lean over and begin moving your hand around underneath his rib cage and spine to find whatever button or trip he's locked down on.

 You fail to notice that Sans has turned an almost alarming shade of blue.

 “Well you've activated one of those traps I was mentioning earlier.” You mention calmly, a mild humour weaving in your voice as you finally locate the trip and press down on it with your own hand. “Alrighty! You can sit up now Sans. I've got the trip still pushed down so we're good for the moment.”

 He sits up quickly and very carefully backs away while you regard the unreleased pressure plate under your chilly hand. It seems harmless, but then again, it's usually the more dangerous ones that seem this way. With a soft hum, you glance over at Sans to ask his opinion. Or, well, you only meant to glance originally, but when you see his face, you can't help but chuckle and try your hardest to make eye contact. “Sorry Sans,” you say when you finally catch his eye, “I honestly wasn't trying to feel you up it anything weird like that. I have to say though, you did feel pretty tense. More tense than I think you would be from a simple pressure plate. What's going on Sans-afras?”

 He groans and pulls his hood over his face. “what is with you and not needing any social barriers? and then you just don’t care about the more important things!” He growls in frustration and it takes every bit of self control you have left not to laugh or outright smile.

 “And just what are the more important things that I’m dismissing here?” You manage to ask with a calm and collected voice, only mildly hinting at your amusement.

 He growls again and puts his hands over his face. “i dunno! but you just do it and you don’t even think half tha time before you do something or you just _care_ so much about a person who’s still mostly a stranger to you but you treat them like you’ve been best buddies for years!” You catch a frustrated look tossed your way between phalanges, glowering eyes and a still softly glowing blue blush peeking out at you. He looks away grumbling and you lift an eyebrow.

 “Sans,” you start with a small quirky smile tickling the corners of your mouth. “Are you still freaking out about my age and how I don’t act how you would expect me to act for it?”

 He faceplants in the snow and mutters something agitatedly into the fluffy frozen mass. You giggle and cover your mouth. “Sorry? I didn’t quite catch that Sans.”

 “i hate how you just know this stuff. ‘m not that easy to read am i? it doesn’t matter how much i try to read off ‘a you, i end up with nothing and you’ve still read me like a book ya just causally opened up.” He grinds out louder into the snow. You hear it this time, and you chuckle.

 “Hmm, I’ve gotta say Sans,” you start as you move to get up, disabling the trap with your magic easily. “I think you read me quite well. Better than you might think. But,” he looks up at you as you extend a hand down to him again, “that still happens the best when I’m trying to hide something.” You wink and he stares at you with wide eye sockets.

 “... you’ve got things you still feel you gotta hide? even as old as you are?” Sans sits up and takes your outstretched hand delicately, as though he’s not entirely sure that you are real.

 You blush a little and look to the next biome as you shrug. “Well yeah. I’m still a mortal you know. I’m not perfect. I get insecure too. Like, I don’t know to look after kids. I’ve never had to before. Not like this, and especially not a new species of amulet canorals, one of which is technically my child and at least one other is my godchild? I might have already adopted the other? I don’t know?” You sigh and look back down at Sans who looks up at you curiously. “What?”

 He chuckles and tugs you down back into the snow with him, using his magic on you to make sure you don’t catch yourself. Startled, you stumble into him, wide eyed. Before you know it, he’s got you in a warm hug. _Huh. Had no idea I was this cold before now._

 “y’know a,” Sans’ deep voice rumbles from his chest into your ear, “it’s not like ya gotta do this on your own.” You blink a few times in surprise, then pull out of the hug to look at the skeleton in front of you.

 “You see, this is what I mean Sans. I literally just did nothing and you still just took one look and read _me_ like a book.” He chuckles again and stands, this time offering his hand to you.

 “yeah, sure. whatever. you literally just told me all i needed to know about the situation. there was no readin’ here, a.” He rolls his eye lights at you with his casual grin as you take his hand and he pulls you up. Only, he pulls you up and keeps tugging you forwards, much to your astonishment. He catches you in a dip, his grin stretching wider over his face. “who’s falling for who now?”

 You pause to register what just happened and remember how you used the same joke on him. Then you snort and fall into giggles again. Where all of the laughter that you’ve found yourself subject to is coming from, you haven’t the slightest clue. “Whoa. You totally got me with that one. Don’t tell me that you’ve been waiting for that one all this time?”

 He shrugs as he pulls you back up, still grinning. “Maybe.”

 You breathe a happy sigh as you revisit the satisfaction of finding someone who can match and meet your a little over the top sense of humor. It’s refreshing to not need to acclimate new friends to it to get a fun reaction, let alone a comeback response! _Too bad I actually try to stay totally up to my neck in busy-stuffs all of the time. He might’ve been fun to hang out with and banter back and forth for a while with._ You smile down at him contently, if not a little regretfully, and motion your head forwards. “Ready to get moving? We’ll end up getting snow-where if we just laze around here.”

 He chuckles and nods, putting his hands back in his thick blue hoodie’s pockets. “y’sure are good at those puns, a.” His act is pretty convincing—and you know that he is actually being 98% genuine, so it’s not that much of an act—but you can tell that he caught on to your quiet moment of realizing your time hanging out like this is limited as ever; even if he doesn’t know exactly what it is that he noticed. Probably. Still, he likes your jokes all the same and appreciates that things aren’t always going to be completely fantastic. You appreciate how he understands as much and can live in the moment despite the less than wonderful side facts.

 With a casual smile and a tip of your hat you motion to start moving. “Why thank ya kindly, lil’ sir. Better get’a hurry up herenow however, else we miss all tha fun of sharin’ these here gems with the rest’a the crew, no?” Your strange mix of accents and speaking mannerisms makes Sans snort and start walking with you towards the presumed end of the snowy biome in a comfortable silence.

 At least, it is until Sans unwittingly sets off another plate trap and gets at least fifteen snowballs to the face in rapid succession. To which you laugh in disbelief because he was supposed to be the best at dodging in the entire underground, but still got totally taken down by _trap_ _snowballs to the face._ Although, to be fair, he had little to no warning for that one. Still, once he recovers he sits up slowly to glare at you, of course. Or at least attempt to, with snowballs lodged into his eye sockets.

 That makes you want to poke holes into them to make the reverse of his regular eye socket-lights-thingy. You say as much and he just laughs, doing one and then letting you do the other. They’re both totally in different places and after the moment of satisfaction from poking a negative version of his real eye lights into existence, you feel really unnerved. It just looks wrong and apparently he thinks so too, or at least they _feel_ wrong, because it’s not more than ten seconds later he’s got all of the snow out and off of his face.

  _Then_ he glares at you for not doing anything to help him out earlier. “Did you know that would happen, or were you just as surprised as i was?”

 “I’m actually pretty sure that you were supposed to be the best at dodging. That was literally your thing. Why are you complaining to me?” You tease innocently with a childish smile.

 He groans and pulls his hood over his head as he rolls his eyes. “that’s not even… ugh, that’s not nice a.” He says it like it’s a complaint, but he’s still smiling like a total dork.

 You snicker and he shoves you over into the bright, fresh snow. Well, he tries to anyways. You stick your tongue out at him as you fall and with a snap of your fingers, you glow a living white and teleport in front of the cunning skeleton by a couple of meters. You have to cackle again as he does an amazing confused then shocked double-take. “what the-!? how did you-!? a, how’d you _do_ that so fast!?”

 You tap your nose with a sly grin. “‘A magician never reveals her secrets.’ At least, I think that’s how that human saying goes. Nevertheless, I’ll let you figure that little trick out on your own. No hints this time.” And with that, you spin around and walk on, light footed, to the corner where the absurdly wide hallway shifts direction to the right. Sans catches up to you just after you turn and he bumps into your frozen form.

 “uh, a? you okay there? what’s going on-” his sentence rolls to a stop the moment he looks up at the newest biome. “okay, there’s been a hell of a lot of weird going on today, but how do you even justify _this_ as any sort of real biome? how is anyone without magic suppose to get across this without dying a painful death?” His voice is full of exasperation but you just grin.

 It’s a dance floor. A technicoloured dance floor. Make of broken up, moving platforms. Above a volcanic cavern of _molten lava._

 Sometimes, you love how outrageously well your friends know you. Because this looks like the best kind of challenging fun you ever could have asked for.

 “no way.” Sans has clearly noticed your gleeful expression and can’t hardly even believe it. “you’ve gotta be kidding me. you think this _fun_ or something, don’t you?” He rolls his eye lights when you nod and begin looking around the immediate area for the secret you know your friends have left for you. “okay, you’re actually a little bit insane. probably.” The skeleton chuckles as you shrug.

 “Maybe. But probably not. I’m just an adrenaline junky. And risky puzzles like this are too much for me too pass up.” Your fingers finally brush over a part of the cave simulated wall and fall through a bit. With a whoop of giddy success you shove your whole arm into the illusion covered gap and grab a bundle of papers. “ALRIGHT!” You pull it out and begin reading, not noticing how Sans is staring at you wide eyed and shaking his head.

 “you are actually the strangest person i’ve ever met. i swear to the skies that you are the only person who is still sane but actually enjoys ‘nine out of ten chance of dying on this obstacle course’ activities. wait, let me take a rain check on that one. you might not be sane after all.” Your new skele-friend looks at you with sceptical humor as you store your hat in your workplace and start stretching. “i don’t even get how you do that ripple in space thing. i mean, there’s not even a structured opening there, you just jumble up space or something.”

 You chuckle and look up at him from your stretching on the warm, dry, not even snowy ground. “Analyze it a bit more will you? I’m sure you’ll figure it out. One day. Eventually. Once you actually stop thinking about it.” He raises an eyebrow at your sarcasm gone… not so sarcastic? You rolls your eyes in good humor. “Look, I’ve had people question it before and I don’t really know how to explain it right? But they saw it happen so they can’t deny that it’s a thing that can happen, so I wait for them to figure it out for themselves. As soon as they stop thinking about it, they figure it out. No jokes here either. Every single person who has ever questioned that technique out loud in my presence, figure it out the moment that they stop thinking about it all together. _I_ don’t even get how any of it works, yet they do. And no one can figure out the words to explain it to me afterwards anyways! Even though you can tell that they just broke through whatever barrier was in their way before.”

 Sans groans and grin wide in your usual quirky way. “a. a. a you are the most evil creature to ever exist. now i won’t be able to do anything _but_ think about it in the back of my mind forever! and your story might just be total bull! ugh…” He holds his head in his hands and you stand giving him an affectionate nudge.

 “Hey, I promise that this is not something I made up. Although, you’re not the first to ask. You can ask Jack or Emmie when we get around to actually finding them. They both figured it out, somehow.” You smile at him and fall into a backbend then rock yourself back up with a content sigh. “Alrighty, I’m good to go. You wanna give it a try after me, Sans?”

 Sans hold his hands up in an ‘x’ in front of himself. “no way, lady. you can have all the fun to yourself on this round. i’ll be ref or somethin’ to make sure you’re not breakin’ any rules.” You scoff and he grins a little wider.

 “Rude. Like I would break any of my drunk friend’s rules. I can’t believe you think so little of me Sans! Still, I don’t think I can introduce you as Sans the Skeleton to anyone I know anymore.”

 “what? why?” He looks at you, entirely bewildered.

 “Because you’ve got the skeleton part down to a ‘t’, but you’re actually _Sans_ the _Guts_ to do anything remotely risky.” You chuckle and kick the rules over to him then fall onto the first moving, technicoloured, mini dance floor.

 You leave him dazed and blinking, then his entire body perks up at the moment he realises your cheeky and clever pun. “oh, she’s good at this.” Suddenly realizing himself again, he quickly picks up the crinkled papers with the rules on them and reads the first one. It’s hard to make out since it’s basically chicken scratch on paper with a few holes here and there, but after a few seconds, Sans finally makes out: ‘difrnt clors wil gon fall intoo the ~~larva~~ lava but some don’t fall when yu tuch them b/c they hav this timr on them but i cant remmember how much time we set b/c that was ~~lillies~~ Lillie’s job an shes already helped Aggas accxrosss (thers an x in that ~~work~~ word right? makes cents since it looks like it) so lills gone a head be/c shes not drunk enuff 2 mess up an Arch an she’s being a responduble (M says thats not how 2 spell it) r.e.s.p.o.n.s.ib.l.e. adult and aunty or something.’

 He looks up in alarm then down to you as he suddenly remembers what you said before you jumped down. _‘Like I would break any of my_ drunk _friend’s rules.’_   

* * *

 

 _well shit. a, you are a total nutter._ Sans looks down at you in horror, then bewildered enjoyment as he watches you. You move smoothly, each step precise and exact in grace and flow. You’ve clearly begun to figure out which colour drops immediately, which drops slow, and which ones do nothing at all. _or maybe have other effects,_ his internal dialogue pipes up with malicious glee. _maybe some of them shoot up bullets at her feet or shove her off the edge or—_ The nasty voice which Sans does not find himself enjoying much—not that he really has ever had an inkling of a liking for it, yet it’s still a part of him regardless—is cut off by his voice of reasoning.

  _—o r. she’s actually_ read _all of the rules and knows her friends well enough that she actually is pretty well sure of what she’s doing. áine isn’t stupid, and she’s got magic on her side if she needs a quick escape. it’s not as though i haven’t seen her quick thinking and creative nature._

  _then again,_ the worrying and anxiety-prone part of himself pops up, suddenly very nervous. _she is really old. perhaps she doesn’t really care anymore? it happened to her once when she was younger, it could happen again. oh no, what if i end up watching her die!? what if she trips or slips up or there_ are _spikes trying to kill her or shove her off into the lava or maybe—_

  _hold up a moment._ His mind leaves it’s panic as he suddenly realises something. _none of this even really matters! i haven’t even been watching her anyways while fretting over this nonsense._ He grumbles aloud and searches hurriedly for your dancing figure. His eyes are pulled to your dangerously swinging self as you dangle by your knees from a bar above a small fire that just… changed colours? Well anyhow, clutched firmly in your hands is something skinny and long, which looks an awful lot like a ribbon, and you quickly plait into your hair. He notes that you’ve got four other braids aside from what you just added. Then it’s as though everything slows down for Sans as he watches the bar you’re swaying on shatter and you begin to fall.

 What he doesn’t expect, is you just giggling followed by calmly kicking yourself _further away_ from the wall and somehow manage to land in a pose that would rival Mettaton’s best dramatic poses on the next dancing platform. Then you change your style from what he watched before. It’s a dance with a lot of locomotion and… and… kicking? As well as... ducking? _uhm, welp i’ve got no clue as to what i should be doing here, nor what exactly is happening_. In attempt to calm himself, he tries reading the rest of the rules.

 Ruul numb ~~r~~ er 2; no cheating wif u magic, ~~slaker~~ slackr.

 He slams the pile of 'rules' down onto the ground and opts to watch you. _nope nope nope nope nope not gonna look at that again it is_ not _helping at all. you agreed not to use magic? what kind of agreement is that? over a pit of lava? are you actually insane here?_ For some reason, she decided to go along with these outrageous terms, and she's more likely than ever to die for it. _shit. what about any of the set up here made her think that this was a good idea?!_

 Yet, as he watches, he notices that despite the fun you're having, you've still got that calculating look in your eye that betrays your years of experience with danger. Watching you like this... your fearlessness, cunning, agility, and genuine interest, it makes his fretting mind pause mid-panic.

 Jump. Spin and kick. Step and sway to the side away from falling tiles. Twist and flip. Cartwheel low. Land and drop to the floor dodge. Shift to squat to accompany later dropping dance floor tiles. Flip backwards over your arm to standing. Step. Sway to step.

 There's no set pattern or logic that each movement strictly follows. But it looks as though you're somewhere in between a dance and a fight. It's complex and intricate, yet never wastes movement or energy. He wonders what it would be like to be your dance partner for this kind of dance. If that's even an option.

 With a pause he rolls his eye lights and dismisses the thought, then focuses back on you.

 He gets lost in the movement, zoning out and picking up on the way your soul fluctuates and pushes out vibrational energy on frequencies his soul translates into song. It takes him a moment to realise what that means. You're singing. _her soul is singing. in spite of the risks, her soul is singing as she dances._ But he is shaken out of his revelry when the song shifts. Eyes focusing back on you once more, he notices that you've changed platforms along with dance style too. Where before you had a steady echoey-twang-plus-drums-and-metal-crashing sound creating rhythm from your soul to accompany the dance, the sound now transforms itself into a faster paced and lighthearted song made with mostly string instruments plus some wind and brass, mixing together well for saucy moves. Which, is exactly what you're doing.

 With some sort of forward, middle, back, middle stepping pattern, you swivel your hips with amusing attitude before adding to the sequence in more complex ways, nimbly avoiding the shifting and falling coloured squares as they remove themselves from the small platform. It's impressive how you turn at just the right moments and lift your feet and spin with your half plaited hair spinning behind you, just in time to get off of a suddenly disappearing part of your dance floor. It's mesmerising too, the way you hold yourself through the steps. You're confident and smiling. You make each barefooted movement with grace accompanied by a subtle power, like one who knows this strength because it is their truth. Your body presents an unspoken authority, he realizes, because you own your experiences, your life, your mistakes, your flaws, your successes, your light, your very own self. And you are not embarrassed in the slightest for it. "it is part of your power," he speaks softly aloud in reverent and warm awe, "because you love who you are, and you love your life and ability to make a positive difference in other's lives."

 After a moment, he blushes as he becomes aware of two things; one, he actually just said that out loud. _sheesh._ And two, he still wonders what it would be like to dance with you, even on partially unstable, moving platforms hovering over lava. Maybe he's a little strange, and maybe it's because you healed his soul so completely and put your unwavering faith in him to do the same for you, but he can admit from the soul that he genuinely trusts you. Áine the Vicchron. And not because of the calming effect that your Workplace had on him, or because you messed around with his soul (which you didn't. Not really), but because you yourself are kind, and earnest, and respect yourself as much as you respect those that you love and care for. 

 You are funny, and silly, and smart, and tricky, and you will pull a dang good prank when called to it. But most importantly, you are genuine and not without compassion and respect for the life around you. You have been through rough patches in your time on this planet. He saw at least one of those. But you battled through it. Not always and maybe not as consistently as you may have liked in hindsight, but you did struggle out of that place and grew from it in one of the most positive ways he could have ever imagined. You do not shy away from the challenge of helping someone lighten their load, but you remain vigilant and aware that there is an extent to which you can truly help another person before the rest depends on the individual.

 You have fears and worries, but you don't try to shove them aside to seem better than anyone else. In fact, your age is a curious thing to him. In so many ways he could pull together reasons that you could  have latched onto to ages ago to have an excuse to be bitter and angry at the world. To allow yourself to be grouchy all of the time, jaded harshly with how much time you have lived through. But instead, you smile and find joy in life. You uplift those around you and heal, because of your love for life and your love to help and be there for others.

 You are much stronger than maybe you even know. And he is okay with this gentle and overwhelming strength you possess. He never thought he would be okay with some 'mage' holding massive amounts of power over him and monster kind. But he is. Because within the short time he has known you, you have proven your character and steadfastness to it.

 He is so happy that you were the one he first met after breaking the barrier. His train of thought breaks as your song changes again to something gentler and he looks up, first acknowledging that your hair almost completely in funny little braids with different coloured ribbons woven into each. Then he smiles as you smoothly pull yourself up onto a sturdy bar interred into the volcanic wall above a magical fire. As you claim the last ribbon and weave it into your hair with a warm and carefree smile on your face, he can't help but smile similarly.

  _you are an incredible woman, áine._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Awe yeah! You read it all through _again!_
> 
> That's pretty spectacular. Just like you! ;•)
> 
> I love me those comments so don't hold back! Unless you wanna be mean. That's not nice, so please try not to do that one thanks. :•)
> 
> BONUS CHALLENGE! If any of you gorgeous readers can guess what the two specific dances were that I wrote up there, I'll give you some top secret spoilers ~~on Dadster~~. ;•) Buenas suerte kiddos.
> 
> Love you guys.  
> ~pS ]


	10. The Power of Names.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You acknowledge a feeling of unease that has haunted you for a long time, then spook the skeleton, find your friends, and find there is an insatiable plea for names.
> 
> Alternately titled: In Which Sans can be a Good Judge of Character.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's late so I'll keep this brief.
> 
> I love you guys, thank you for the comments! I've included what the dances actually were in this chapter (with mention of the waltz but I never actually described that one).
> 
> Also, I keep forgetting to thank you for the 1000+ hits, 100+ kudos, and overall enthusiasm for this story! You kids are fantastic! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support.
> 
> Love you all heaps,  
> Enjoy,  
> ~pS

**_you are an incredible woman, áine._ **

 

  
 You haven’t had so much fun since… well, no, you had had plenty of fun in the last few hours. But you haven’t _danced_ like this in forever. It’s refreshing and reminds you of some of your youngest years when your parents, who loved you so very dearly, taught you to love all sorts of different cultures and exposed you to different styles of dance. Some were self-defence like capoeira. Some were lively and cheeky where you could focus all of your sass like in salsa dancing. Some were formal and elegant like the waltz.

 There were so many different kinds of dance and you loved each unique form of expression. You’ve had plenty of time since to learn many different styles, but recently you were… running. You could feel that something big was coming, and although you knew it was irresponsible to try and avoid the bad stuff that still lurks under your nose and in the corners of the world, you had anyways. You aren’t a superior being, you aren’t all knowing, and you certainly aren’t without flaws after all. But this feeling... it put you on edge.

 It’s still putting you on edge, actually. Rude.

 Dancing tends to clear your mind, and this time has given you an enormous amount of clarity. Releasing the Underground isn’t what the ‘calm before the storm’ build up you’ve been slowly sensing more of for the past few years. No, but it’s something positive that you’re more than ecstatic that this happened– _wait, that all just happened_ today _!? Stars and skies, so much has happened in the last few hours it feels like days._

 With a final and graceful spinning landing, you come to a stop on the ledge with a little safe-like door on the wall above it. It’s not a way to get out, but if the sloppily made hints in the ‘rule book’ gave you any indication, the rendezvous place should be on a map, or paper, or maybe even stone tablet inside of the little door, about which was explicitly stated you were to open by use of the cute and vibrant ribbons—held in magical fires previously—and not with your own magic which would make the whole thing useless. The whole set up made you grin like a fool, your friends really know how to help you relax and think for a moment.

 After unwinding and pulling the slim slips of fabric from your hair, you sort them into the last puzzle and open the safe. Inside the little space is… nothing. Or at least, nothing that you could see with unaided eyes. With a little burst of magic, you activate your eyes to look into the magical layer of reality. … _Still empty? What even-?_ You sigh and jump off the ledge, teleporting back to Sans mid-jump. With a soft landing, you appear right next to the skeleton, who jumps, entirely startled and with a nervous and worried expression on his face. He looks you over, then seems to slump a little in… relief? _What’s got him is such a tizzy?_

 “sheesh pal! not sure what y’were thinking there, but you would’ve given me a heart attack just now if i had one. what was that jumping off a cliff into lava about exactly?” He scolds you, more in rather terrified shock you realize, and you feel a little guilty.

 “Sorry Sans! I wasn’t trying to spook you or anything. I’m not lacking reason to live, I can assure you. I just have an insatiable urge for dramatic and flashy entrances and exits. They’re cool and entertaining and I can’t help it since it’s just a part of my nature. I know my limits for sure, but I guess I forgot that you aren’t exactly accustomed to my strange theatrics. I promise that I don’t go too far or beyond my limits to pull any of this off.” Sans takes a moment, glances at the pile of papers which consisted of the ‘rule book’ written for you—all of which you notice are crumbled on the ground—then looks back up to you with tired eyes.

 “...k. you just, uh.” He scratches the back of his skull as he tries to gather his wits. Or maybe it’s his old composure of acting like nothing is wrong he’s trying to put back together? Who knows. “it’s just that one of the rules was tuh not use magic and then you jumped and i maybe freaked out a little and was about to come get you because you told me that you’d never break your friend’s rules and you didn’t have the stick thing out to draw an arch and it would have been too late for that anyways i thought but i didn’t know for sure if you had a plan so i was still ready to go after you an—”

 “Sans,” You cut him off gently, watching as his head snaps up to look at you, still a little nervously. “It’s okay. I’m here, and I’m alright. I’ll explain to you what all the details of why I did what I did, but first… Do you need a hug?” His ranting had him tensing up again, you watched it happen far too quickly for your liking and you know with 94% certainty that he’s rewatching it in his head. …And probably imagining scenarios where you die in the lava because he did nothing. You make a mental note to assess the situation before doing something like that again while the skeleboy is still new to your antics.

 “... yeah.” He mutters quietly under his breath, quiet enough that you almost don’t hear it, and with a tone you realize marks how he almost doesn’t want to be heard. He’s totally embarrassed about not feeling strong enough to jump this hurdle on his own. _Does he not remember that he doesn’t have to do this alone?_

 Nevertheless, without missing a beat you scoop him up and plop down onto the pleasantly warm ground and cuddle him, hugging him close enough to you so that he can hear your steady heartbeat. He yelps in surprise at first from being so suddenly manhandled and squirms a little, but you hold him fast. “Listen.” You whisper with his head lying just above where your heart resides. “Do you hear that?”

 He stills after a second more of struggling, then barely nods as he abruptly relaxes, letting a free quiet settles over the two of you. For a moment, neither of you allow time to be a problem getting in the way of things, and silently choose to listen and think. It’s comfortably calming. You let your mind wander and begin storing the memories from the day in long term, hopefully. You don’t really want to forget anything of what happened today. You don’t know how much longer something so peaceful and positive will last, so you choose to treasure every moment.

 Eventually though, the now very much more relaxed Sans pulls away gently and looks up at you. “... your heartbeat is freaking weird.”

 You blink, then giggle. That totally caught you off guard. “Uhm, okay. Sure. I suppose it would be. I think…” You trail off and frown a little, scrunching up your face in the process your head hurts a little again. “I think that WingDingus said something about that once.”

 Sans takes his turn to look at you in perturbation. “uh, what?”

 “I mean Wings. No, Dadster. Wait, no! I meant _Doctor Gaster!”_ You sigh agitatedly and let yourself fall backwards so that your back and mop of red hair meet the ground. “Or, you know. Whatever your dad’s name is. No big deal or anything. Ugh I hate not being able to remember everything.” You mumble the last bit, but Sans just keeps looking down at you, then laughs.

 “please- _please_ promise me that you’ll say that to him if we ever see him again. it’s gotta be when i’m around too though. i wanna see the look on his face!” His deep laughter echoes in the cave-ish walls and volcanic cavern beside you. You chuckle softly after a moment.

 “Yeah, sure thing skele. I can promise you that. Anyways, I’ve gotta explain this thing to you.” You grab the bundle of papers with Jack-style-drunk written rules on them. “How many could you handle reading?” You sit up and Sans moves himself out of your little bubble of space.

 Sans eyes the papers, shifts to look at you for a split second, then looks away. “... two.”

 You try not to grin—you fail but whatever—and nod. “Yeah, that’s fair. Jack can’t write worth a plastic bag when he’s drunk. It’s funny since he can talk and walk and spar while totally wasted, but he can’t write at all. Anyways, he’s still pretty smart and later on in rule twenty or something like that—even though I think rules thirteen through eighteen are just him ranting about being ditched—it said that I could use magic, especially in the event that my life is at risk, but to try and avoid it until after I open the safe.”

 He nods, thinking, then speaks up again. “and this is important why…?”

 “Well Mr. i-don’t-make-promises-easy,” you tease with a kind grin, “I don’t want you to think that I’m a flake or something. I basically did promise, vaguely, that I wasn’t going to break the rules that my friends made. But that fact scared you at the end when I decided to jump and land over here next to you. So I’m clearing up two things here. One,” you hold up a single finger, “I keep the promises I make as well; and two,” you lift a second finger, “I don’t intend to leave this present life of mine. I especially don’t want to leave with you watching like that. I’m not a cruel nor twisted enough person to consider something like that. You don’t need to work yourself into a panic over me, alright?” You finish softly, tilting your head a little to the side as you look him in the eye.

 Slowly, Sans looks back and forth from you, to the papers in your hand, then back off to the volcanic cavern. Clearly, a debate is bouncing around his mind, and he’s lacking surety he wants before taking any sort of action. “uh,” he breathes out under his breath.

 You wait a moment, then raise an inquisitive and possibly amused eyebrow. “Sans, you do realize that you don’t really have to… filter what you want to express right now, right? I’m not going to judge you or anything for what you think–” You’re cut off when he leans forwards and hugs you tightly, shaking just a little. “Ah,” the soft whisper of understanding falls from your mouth. Gently, you wrap your arms loosely around him and shift so that the pair of you are in a bit less of an awkward position. It doesn’t take long afterwards for him to start talking.

 “i hate how much your little stunt terrified me áine.” Ope, he’s using your actual name with that kind of tone. Your actions kinda had a bigger effect on him than you initially must have realized. Yikes. “an’ i hate how i can’t ev’n handle how scared i was.” His voice may be quiet and muffled in your shoulder, but every word is clear as day for you. You hope that maybe you can somehow make this up to him. It was never your intention to scare him to death. Or, you know, even remotely worry him about your safety and whether or not you were going to just up and die on his watch.

 “but more than all’a that…” he sighs, “i hate that i don’t understand how ‘m already so attached to you. i mean, i get it. but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like it should be possible to know you as well as i do after only knowing you for a couple’a hours and just… just… _care_ so much. i might’a lost my mind if you had actually died. an’ there aren’t any more resets, so...” Sans pauses, then groans in agitation. “this is dumb. i just finally got out of the underground after what feels like a million years worth of reliving the same damn events of my life over and over. i asked a total stranger to heal my soul of it’s worst scars, interrupted a weird funeral thing and then somehow got included in the ceremony, saw said stranger’s memories, fell into her house which somehow got transformed into a bunch of biomes outta nowhere because drunk friends, and now i watched ya drop from a tiny cliff ledge and i about lost my mind when i realized that i was terrified to lose the first new person i met on the surface. an’ all’a this, this mess of... of… _everything_ happened in no more than four, maybe _five_ hours. what. the. actual. hell.”

 The exasperation in his voice is probably one of your favourite things about his mini speech slash maybe monologue just now. It’s only second to the fact that he actually is aware that the relationship between you both indeed went from total stranger to peculiar best buddies in less than even half a day. Plus the fact that he hasn’t emotionally shut down yet. You’re actually kind of proud that he’s noticed and not been swept up and away in it all. It’s not exactly an easy achievement, considering all that’s happened.

 “You’re a pretty impressive skeleton, Sans.” You hum to him with a smile. He snorts in the disbelieving ‘yeah, whatever’ sort of way. “No, seriously! And not in some weird or funny way. You basically just got hit with a million different things in rapid succession. You got the surface again, some plausible threat who gave a stern talking to to the two kids who got you all out was suddenly thrown in your path, fixed a soulless flower’s soul, kind of invaded your memories to heal yours. That’s like, culture shock times infinity from the beginning!

 “And that’s _after_ just barely getting over ‘the-” you snort and try to hold together a serious tone of voice, “sorry, the ‘Absolute God Of Hyperdeath’ corrupted your mind and soul not ten minutes previous to meeting me. But that’s not even all of what you had to deal with! Today you have been through _hell and back_ Sans. And you’re dealing with all of this like a pro. If I were in your shoes, I would have disassociated a long while ago. So,” you pull him back just a bit so he can see your face when you say this next piece. “I want you to know, Sans the brilliant Skele, that I am incredibly proud of you for holding up so well. And that it’s okay to feel confused or need to take a break or even cry! There’s no shame in it, and I certainly won’t judge you. You’ve got my shoulder and ear whenever you need it, my friend.”

 His eye lights are bright and eye sockets wide. Clearly, you are just full of surprises. “i…” his voice cracks and he clears his throat, “‘m not much of a crier usually.” Sans looks down to the side, avoiding looking at you directly with baritone voice holding quietly. “an’ i don’t really remember the last time i was able to confide in anyone because of those… resets. but,” he finally looks you in the eye again, “thank you. and as for talking… well, i’ll try. as long as you’ve got no problem with putting up with me.”

 You grin and poke his forehead. “Hey, I’ve never had to put up with you. I enjoy your company. The real deal breaker here is whether or not you have no problem putting up with _me_.”

 Sans rolls his eye lights. “yeah, sure. because that’s just _so_ difficult to do.” His sarcasm is fantastic.

 “Then you understand exactly my point!” You grin triumphantly and he chuckles.

 “i guess so.”

 You exhale contently, then you remember the reason you came back over here in the first place. “Oh!” You growl in mild irritation. Which makes Sans jump. Whoopsies. “I can’t find the clue that they left for us so that we could find them fast. Sorry. I think that maybe they forgot to actually leave the clue in the safe and probably just took it with them by accident?” You shrug and sigh, glaring at the volcano’s innards. Sans just grunts noncommittally. You turn to look away from the set up but your eyes, still magically activated eyes, catch a glimmer of shimmering magical residue on the door of the safe thingy.

 “Hold up,” you narrow your eyes to check and… yup. That’s probably important. It looks like Emm’s magic. “Maybe I’m actually just dumb.” You start to stand and Sans joins you, looking over at the safe in confusion.

 “...what am i missing here?”

 You glance down at him and think a moment. “... Maybe try looking at it using your magic? I’m not looking using my regular vision, so maybe it would help if you weren’t using your magic passively either?”

 He quirks an eyebrow…  bone brow. Yeah, that one. And considers it while looking at you. In a moment he decides and with a soft ringing sound, his eyelights change, leaving one eye socket without any light, and the other wide and bright blue. You grin. “... That is still stupidly cool.”

 Sans chuckles, the sound reverberating and echoing back to you. It just makes the effect that much better. He must know that it sounds badass, because his grin widens. “i know.”

 With a teasing scoff you give him a quick nudge and point over to the open safe door. “Anyways, bonehead, can you see the sparkly-water looking magic splash over there on the safe?”

 He nods and give you a side glance. “yeah, what about it?”

 “Oh nothing, it just looks really cool. Don’t you think?” You grin slyly with your voice conveying complete nonchalance before you take a casual step forward and teleport yourself back to the ledge with the safe. You don’t have to look to know that you just confused, low-key irritated, and begrudgingly entertained the skeleton you just sort of ditched. You snicker and focus on the writing that Emm left for you in her ever neat magical signature.

 

_I’m glad you figured out the puzzle and gave enough time to check the safe door for this answer, Áine! Now I may be slightly tipsy right now, but I’m sure you’ll forgive us eventually. Jack spiked the punch Arthur made, just for future reference. Fortunately, Agatha passed on trying it, being a little overwhelmed, and Lillie noticed the alcohol so therefore decided that she wouldn’t have any more as to accompany the young ones safely. I would have done the same, if she had told me it was spiked. Anyhow, I will be making sure that everyone stays put in the absurdly large kitchen and have Lillie keep the knives away from Jack. I am aware that last time’s game ended up being rather risky._

_I am sure we will see you shortly,_

_—E._

 

 You roll your eyes and giggle, teleporting back behind Sans. _“Boo.”_ You whisper suddenly next to his skull. He jumps and stumbles forwards, almost falling until you snag his hoodie and pulling him back up. “Sorry,” you smile apologetically at him as he looks back at you and glares a little, “I didn’t think that would spook you so much. I should probably cool it with the pranks, huh?”

 He rolls his eye-lights and with a sudden summoning of an abnormally long femur bone, he whacks you over the head. “there we go. all’s forgiven. now what was that all about?” He smirks a little but still asks with all seriousness.

 You rub your head, which honestly doesn’t hurt all that much, and shrug. “Dramatic flare, remember? Aside from that, the writing that I went over to check was the location we needed. Everyone’s in the stupidly massive kitchen; hopefully. So, would you like to just go there right now, or shall we wonder a little longer?”

 “‘m a lazy person, a. what do you think?” He grins as you roll your eyes and pull out a piece of your Arch drawing ‘chalk’ as the twins liked to call it. In just a few seconds, you’ve drawn up another stable Arch and grin, putting the piece away.

 “Ready?” You grin down at your skeleton companion.

 “you’ve gotta tell me how you draw up those other arches so fast one of these days, a.” He chuckles softly but nods and you activate the Arch with a sly grin.

 The moment you fuel the Arch with your energy, other side instantly explodes into view; your eyes land immediately on Jack who is sitting on a barstool in front of the island in the surprisingly unaltered kitchen. You flash a rather evilly intimidating smile at him. One that most certainly promises a gaining of recompense for his actions, which he’s sure by now to know were most certainly wrong. The look you give him purposely only last for a brief few seconds, but then you have to laugh at Jack’s flabbergasted, then entirely drunkenly fearful expression as he realizes what’s to come for him in the near future.

 “Hello ladies, and _boy._ ” You pause for effect as you and Sans walk through the Arch, then decide to send the pointed jab at Jack, who apparently still has the less-than-sober decency to look ashamed. Despite your forgiving nature, you are in fact, incredibly upset with him for going directly against your instruction and you have half a mind to give him a good tongue lashing right here. Lucky for him, you do still have a soft spot for your friends. Still, he’s not off the hook so easily. “I’m glad that everyone got here safely, and that no one has made any more incredibly obtuse mistakes besides spiking the punch. Or transforming my house. Although that one is a bit easier to manage and fix.”

 Agatha, Danniel, and Lillie giggle at the passive-aggressive war you’re waging here. Although, Agatha and Danniel glance at each other, cheeks colouring with a guilty look reflecting from both sides. “Uhm,” Danniel begins a tad bit embarrassedly, “the biome thing is kinda on me. Sorry for-”

 “It wasn’t your fault Dannie!” A very indignant Agatha crosses her arms defiantly and huffs. “I was trying out my magic and everyone had just shown me some interesting and different forms of magic so I was curious to see what kinds of magic _I_ could do and I remembered one of my favourite places from the island where I helped maintain the barrier and it suddenly appeared all around me!”

 “Yeah, but you wanted for your godmum to be here before you did any magic since you weren’t sure you’d be able to control it yet! And I told you to do it anyways, then started showing you pictures of different kinds of climates to see if you could recreate them despite never experiencing them Aggie. It’s totally my fault that all of this happened. You wouldn’t have done it otherwise.” You watch as Agatha and Danniel defend each other with conviction. It brings a gentle smile to your face, knowing that the two of them have made friends, despite the loss a very much loved friend and parent.

 “Hey, it’s alright.” You chuckle at them and walk over to the pair, scooping them up in a close group hug. “I’m not really mad about it. It’s fun to see my house being used again, plus the fact that we know some of your abilities Agatha! I’m so proud of you both for working together and being friends. There’s no need to worry either, I can clean my house up in an instant. Although, I am curious who decided to set up the traps. Sans got hit pretty well with one of them, but I did notice that there were a few _really_ dangerous ones involving spells.”

 The two girls look surprised as you say this and look at each other in confusion. “... What traps auntie– ah, Áine?” Agatha speaks up softly, trying to hide her embarrassment from the slip-up. Oh, she’s adorable. The traps conundrum can wait for a while.

 You smile and kiss the top of the transformed gem’s head. “You can call me auntie if you like, sweetie. It’s not a problem at all. I’m here for you and I want you to know that your happiness is very important to me.”

  _Hey! What about us!?_ Indigo shouts into your mind. And apparently everyone else’s mind too, besides Sans, because all but Sans wince at the sudden ringing pout echoing through collective minds.

 With a groan you rub your head, turning your attention the two amulets around Agatha’s neck. “Indigo, I think we’re gonna need to have a talk about shouting in people’s minds. But It’s not like I love you any less than I do Agatha. You either, White. You guys are great and wonderful and I want nothing more than to help you be happy and successful and give you the chance to have a form more… workable? Yeah that’ll do, a form that is easier for you to work with and move around in than the one you’ve each got right now.”

  _No need to be rude, Indie!_ Yellow pipes up. _Your mum only just got back, and we all just found out about Green– Agatha’s new powers! Be a bit nicer, would you?_

 You giggle as the other gems start up a discussion among themselves, but you stop when Sans clears his throat. “uh, what’s going on exactly?” He looks really confused and maybe a little concerned.

 It suddenly occurs to you that he isn’t able to hear the amulets. Yeah, that’s gotta be weird. “Oh. Hey Sans, come over here real quick. You wanted to give White some monster magic, right?”

 He blinks at the sudden change in topic, then nods and walks over to you as Agatha lifts Indigo and White from around her neck and gives them to you with a beaming smile. “‘course i do. ‘m pretty sure my parent’s were the parents for the little guy anyways. technically i guess that makes them my littlest sib."

 If San’s words weren’t enough to make you smile, White’s sudden squee of joy in your mind certainly makes your ever quirky grin widen. “Yeah, I guess it does, huh? They’re pretty excited about it anyways.” A sudden realization hits you. “Actually,” you look back down at the white amulet in your hand thoughtfully. “White, is there a gender you’d like to be recognized as? I don’t recall ever picking up on a specific gender, sorry.”

  _Pfft! You’re fine there auntie._ White shrugs, still grinning.  _I’m a gal. I’ll be the sexiest person in the room once I get myself a proper name and body._ She harrumphs with a sly grin and total conviction which makes you laugh.

 “I’m sure you will be, chiquita.” You grin and pass the amulet to Sans who takes her carefully. “Hey Sans, just imagine that you’re donating love, hope, and charity to her and she’ll handle the rest. By the way White, who do you want to give you a name, hon?”

  _Sans._ The response is immediate and without hesitation, which makes you smile.

 The named skeleton jumps, clearly surprised and you realize that he can hear her now. “ya sure bud?” His response is obviously incredulous, but his soft grin warms your heart. You note too that there’s a soft blue glow emanating from his hands and eyelight. White is soaking it up quite rapidly and glowing brighter and brighter from it.

  _‘Course I’m sure,_ brotha _._ The cheeky amulet grins through her voice and everyone, including the amulets, all chuckle. _Wouldn’t’ve said it otherwise. You’re the first actually related family I’ve ever met. You’re gonna name me, and it had better be fantastic, my big skelebro._

 Sans chuckles, an almost excited grin lifting his face. “well if you’re so sure, kiddo. gimme a sec here, alright? we got a family theme you’ve gotta live up to now.”

 _  Alright, alright. That’s fair I think. But don’t take too long, I wanna try out magic too!  _ The now hard to look at gem shoots out sparks of excitement, while Sans looks on with a curious softness and gets to thinking up a name.

  _Hey._ Indigo mumbles softly, hesitantly, into your mind.

 “Yes, Indigo?” You reply quietly, feeding the gorgeous amulet more integrity, trust, and magic with ease.

  _Uhm, could you. Ugh. Could you, maybe…_ He hesitates and you wait patiently, smiling gently.  _Can I have a name too?_ Even in your mind, his voice is hard to hear.

 With a giddy hum, you kiss the top of the brightening gem. “Of course you can!” You walk over to one of the counters, a little ways off from the rest of the group to begin your discussion. As you hop up, you see that everyone in the room has gone off with their amulets, save for Agatha and Daniel with Yellow who all sit together in a group of three, chattering with soft and excited giggles. “So,” you look back at your… son? Yeah, you look back down at your son who you can tell is more than ecstatic about having this conversation. “Do you have any suggestions? I can come up with something on my own if you like, but this is your name after all.”

 The amulet hardly hesitates this time, energy bouncing in your hands. _ Okay, so I have some, but I want you to try first. _

 You giggle and breathe a sigh. “Alright. Let’s see…” you think for a long moment as you make a list of names you’ve come across in your travels, then hum with a satisfied smile. “Okay, here are a few. There’s Kamari, Kohei, Reading—for ironic purposes of course, since it actually means ‘son of the red-head'; Marius, Garret, Ernest, Novac, Adam—also for ironic purposes since the name is attributed to the first human guy ever, according to Christianity anyways and since you were the first to gain consciousness it would be hilarious; Adrian, Fletcher, -oh! And there’s Koa! It means—

  _That’s the one I want._ Indigo suddenly stops you mid-sentence with an absolute certainty. _Koa. _

 “Really?” You ask, totally caught off guard. “You don’t even know what it means, and I’ve got more names that you could choose too.”

  _Knowing what it means is a bonus. But that is a name that you really like, and I really like it more than the others. It’s special to you, and it will be for me because you’re giving me my name._ He is absolutely sure of it, you can hear it in his voice.  _But,_ he starts again, a little more timidly,  _what_ does  _it mean?_

 A delighted smile breaks across your face. A pang hits your heart and soul with a feeling of joy and love and a protectiveness much stronger than you’ve felt aside from when your friends—who you considered your family, in all honesty—were in dangerous situations where their lives were at stake. Like just earlier this evening, actually. _This new maternal thing is an interesting touch._ “Well kiddo, Koa means ‘warrior’ in Hawaiian. Hawaii is a collection of islands that are part of the United States. But the culture in Hawaii is something that I really find interesting and fun to observe…” You ramble on for a while, becoming more animated as you move on to other stories of places you’ve been in the rest of the world and the adventures you’ve been on, as well as the dangerous missions you’ve been tasked with in the past.

 It’s near a whole half hour later that you have an interruption that isn’t a comment or question about a story. You look back over to the middle of the massive room to see Sans, grinning widely after a boisterous laugh. “alright bud. the name i choose for you is Lexia R.. yeesh kid, that’s the most formal i think i’ve ever said anything in my entire life. you’d better live up to the new name, lex.”

 The room is filled with a rapidly brightening white light until it’s too hard to see. Then with an explosive burst of energy, the next amulet is reborn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awwwwweeeee yeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!
> 
> So, any guesses on what Lexia R is going to look like?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this (shorter) chapter. Let me know what you think!
> 
> *purpleSquiggles still believes in you.  
> *You can do the thing!
> 
> ;•)  
> ~pS


	11. It's called Denial, Sans.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Names! Teasing! And... Threatening? Yeesh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back earlier than she expected kids? 〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜
> 
> LoL. Also noting that I totally forgot that last chapter was our first double digits. Whoopsie. So here's a belated: woohoo! x•D  
> —> Okay but I'm actually pretty happy with the fact that I've got ten (now eleven, but whatever) mostly decently length chapters uploaded on here, and that they're actually good enough that people are enjoying them! I think that's super awesome.
> 
> I did a really awful job of describing the crest (heh, spoilers? But still not really?) so if anyone wants to know how it really looks, shoot me a message about how to put pictures up on here since I've drawn it. :•)

**_The room is filled with a rapidly brightening white light, until it’s too hard to see. Then with an explosive burst of energy, the next amulet is reborn._ **

  


 “so kiddo, got any ideas? i’ve never had to name anyone before, so i’m a little outta my element here.” He chuckles to the amulet in his hand. It feels funny, giving a donation of his main soul traits to the chipper little gem and… new sibling. _heh. paps is gonna loose his skull over this when he finds out._

_Well,_ she starts smoothly,  _you told me that we’ve got a family theme for names now. What theme are we working with here, bro?_

_well that’s a good a place to start as any._ “yeah, that makes sense. so i guess that dad started this… ‘tradition.’ basically-- as i just found out --a over there named a language slash font that she wrote after him. somehow, he prophetically named paps and i after fonts. although, maybe that’s also a’s fault. it’d be just like her to do something like this. anyways, the point is that we’ve gotta get you named after a font too.” He pulls out his phone and grins a little wider as White starts giggling.

 _ Oh my ungodly glint, that is actually priceless! We are so doing this! We can all be a matching set! _ Her laughter makes him snort, amused by her clear motivation to make it happen. But her mirth by no means gets in her way of noticing the moment he pulls out his phone and begins looking up font names.  _Hey! That looks really cool. What is it?_

 “uh, my phone?”

_Yeah! Wha’s it for?_

_she doesn’t know what a phone is, huh? i guess i shoulda expected that one at least, though._ “it’s for calling people and, uhm, well, sending messages and looking things up with. i mean, you can also play games on it, but it’s primarily for what i said before. plus, monster phones have a set’a dimensional storage boxes too. Not sure if anyone’s got them up top though.” He finally pulls up a list of font names, noting that humans have quite a few more fonts than last time he was able to check. “i’ll show ya later if ya want. so, how do you want to do this? do you want to read them, or should i read them out loud for ya?”

_My dude, you are gonna have to read these bad boys out to me_ , White starts with finality, _because as amazing as I am, none of us amulet-gems have ever learnt how to read._

 He pauses, looking back to the magic consuming crystal in his hand. “seriously?”

 The girl scoffs.  _Of course, bro. Who would have been there to teach us in the first place? We’ve been on our own for long enough to have observed enough of the world—well, okay it was just our island, fine—to know how nature’s cycle works, and we borrowed language from mama A over there because she knows a whole library’s worth of ‘em and we needed to be able to communicate_ somehow, _right? Indigo copied it all down from her when he was just restarting the link up and then gave it to the rest of us. It worked best for him to nab it from her, since he’s got the closer magical signature. But that’s really kind of a no duh thing. Anyways! I don’t know how to read, so you’d best read me out some font-tastic names and get this party started!_

 He chuckles, shaking his head a bit. “you lot are just one surprise after another, y’know?” His response is giggles and more encouragement to get ‘started already!’ “k, alright, you got me. Here goes… arial?”

_Ew. No that sounds boring and grossly over used. Next._

 He snorts at that. _she’s not wrong._ “noted. oh, hey, how about calligrapher?”

_Oh. That sounds cool. I’ll use it as a middle name or something. It fits, but not quite. It also sounds like a job, and I’m not going to have a job title for my actual name._

 “fair enough. let’s see…” He scrolls down a bit, noting that most of these fonts don’t really seem to fit the spunky gal. “jester maybe? it looks kinda cool, but i dunno…”

_Mhm, let’s not. Nice try though._ He nods and scrolls down a little more, but when his eyelights catch something, he has to choke down his laughter.  _What? Sans, what is it? I wanna know too!_

 “y-yeah.” He tries to take in a couple of deep breaths to calm himself. _this’ll be funny enough to laugh at with her if i can make it out without laughing in the middle of it._ “s’how’s this for a name? lucida _sans?_ ”

 White seems to stutter to a halt, then bursts out laughing in his mind. _ Oh my glimmer, that would actually be so funny. We could both go by ‘Sans’ just to mess with everyone! _

 After snickering to himself again, he nods sagely. “i knew ya’d see it my way. but sadly, no. ‘lucida’ is not a name you’re looking to land yourself.”

_Sans, I’m so glad that you’re my brother. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Flying has always been my higher calling anyways._

 He grins. “you’re a clever gal. paps is gonna go crazy over this. ‘Course, there’s only th’ best to be had for my baby sis. what’s a big brother for oth’wise?”

 She giggles and prompts him to continue.  _Thanks Sans. Now, onwards, mighty elder brother!_

 “yes ma’am!” He grins a little wider, scrolling down on the hunt for more names. “k imma just rapid fire a few more’a these. ‘m pretty sure none of them are a no-go, but it is your name so i’ll just leave it up to you. pythagoras, times, teletype, vagabond, dauphin, snrk- unicorn–”

_Pfft. Sans, you’re great, but we’ve gotta look somewhere else for these fonts if this is the best they’ve got going for them._ He can practically hear the rolling of currently non-existent eyes. Not that he can really say much on that account. But he’s never had his sight on eyes anyways.

_i should really start writing this stuff down. i’ve got priceless material here. yeesh, later! i’ve got a new little sister to name here. that’s way more important._

 He pulls up a new website. “fair. cool, found another page. here goes. impact, tahoma, alex brush, quicksand, pfft- lobster–”

_Sans._

 “yup. got it. ahem. allura, titillium, sofia, black jack, windsong—that’s kinda cool—uhm where was i… oh yeah. novecento, lexia readable, colaborate—”

_Wait! What was that funny one with ‘readable’ at the end of it?_

 “uh, that was lexia readable. why, like it or somethin’?” _interesting_.

_Maybe. Why_ does _it say ‘Readable’ at the end?_

 “not sure. lemme look it up real quick.” With an excited _alright_ he gets to it, pulling up the background story for it. “k, looks here like it was made to help people with dyslexia… right. i don’t even know what that is. let’s go look that up then.” With a little more searching, he finds a definition. “says here that dyslexia is ‘a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.’ so basically, lexia readable was made for people with dyslexia because the unsymmetrical letter differences can help them not get so confused while reading. or that’s the idea anyways. so wha’d’ya think sis?”

 The crystal suddenly glows brightly and shoots out burning-magnesium-white sparks. _Yes! I love it! That’s my new name. Lexia R. Calligrapher. I love it. Thanks Sans._

 He chuckles. “you betcha. ready?”

 _ I was born ready! Or, I will be in a minute anyways. _She conveys her cheeky grin as she speaks in his mind.

 _oh she’s a clever one._ “alright bud. the name i choose for you is Lexia R.. yeesh kid, that’s the most formal i think i’ve ever said anything in my entire life. you’d better live up to the new name, lex.” His grin goes almost slack in awe as the solid white gem in his hand sighs contently and begins to glow bright, brighter, and brighter still, lifting off of his skeletal hand with ease.

_Thanks bro._ _Let’s see if Indigo can catch up or if I’ll be reborn first!_

 And then in an instant, two shades—one of white and the other of some other darkness—it’s too bright to see.

* * *

_ Not even fair! We’ve got to go over now and I need my name too! She said we’d be twinners if we could- not even ten minutes ago! _ Indigo, soon to be Koa, shouts almost anxiously in your ear. White—now Lexia R.—is only just beginning to shine brighter and brighter, but you know you don’t have long.

 You nod absolutely, teleporting close to the scene and smiling softly. “The name I choose for you is Koa. Go for it, my little tike.”

 The amulet shoots off of your open palm in a flash next to Lexia R. and with three rapid pulses of deep indigo colour to contrast the increasing white light, the room suddenly becomes impossible to actually see. An explosion of both white and indigo flare off simultaneously, then seconds later it all clears up to reveal two new humanoid kids, curled up and facing each other on the ground. Also, totally buck naked- just like Agatha was. Already anticipating this, you summon a soft, thick blanket cloth to cover the two, in a single and swift movement. But only manage to land the first half over Koa before Sans has covered Lexia with his blue coat. The two of you look up at one another in surprise, then grin a bit. You toss the rest of the blanket over Lexia too, just to be safe.

 “Congrats. Having a new sister is going to be fun. Want me to make her some clothes real quick?” You quietly speak up and stand next to Sans, trying not to wake the amulet children since they are both unconscious.

 He nods gratefully and looks at Lexia fondly. “thanks, you too. havin’ a kid’s gonna be interestin’ for ya. i basically raised paps so let me know if ya need any help. an’ yeah clothes’d be great.”

 With a nod, you near silently get to work making two different sets of clothes. First you make self-fitting underwear for each and using your magic you slip them on the two waking, transformed gems under the blanket without disturbing either. Seems like the best way to go about starting this whole thing in any case. Still, you want to take a closer look at these newly made canorals to see if they look anything like Agatha and if there are any patterns or similarities amongst the amulets. Yet at the same time, you wish to acknowledge their personalities in clothing rather than just slapping something on, which seems pretty rude.

 So, you minorly speed up time on the clothing project as you start working, using more of your magic to create threads which weave themselves together for comfortable, flexible, and near indestructible fabric. While that’s going, you start thinking up the actual outfits and colours.

 _Alright, Lexia is classy, but also kinda crass sometimes and fairly laidback. Also a bit of a tomboy, now that I think of it._ You steal a glance over to her and note her black roots that rapidly fade to shoulder length white hair, cute little nose, black lips, and long white eyelashes. _Man that is so_ cool _. But! Geeking out comes later. So let’s go with a black pair of cargo three-quarters with real pockets because let’s be serious, no one really likes pants without pockets, and she’ll be the kind of person who’ll want a lot of pocket space. Then… how about a fitted, dark blue halter top, with… converse shoes. Yeah! Those cool blue high top ones with that had clouds on them will work. ‘Walking on clouds’ will crack her up for sure. Plus, they’d go well with that shirt. And we’ll tie her hair up in a cute bun too so that we leave some strands out, but it’s still mostly out of her way. Better actually make a hair-tie for that. She won’t have to worry about it getting in her face for a while._

 The freshly made and self-fitting material in front of you mirrors your thoughts as you work through the outfit, spinning and dying themselves faster than should be possible—or at least, in the eyes of most—even without the time speed up. By the time you’ve really finished thinking out the outfit, the clothing and shoes are all put together perfectly. With a smile, you wave them off and they all shoot over to her, clothing wriggling under the blanket like the undergarments had to dress Lexia up and hair-tie carefully scooping her hair up into a fun messy bun. That’s all done and you’re about to go onto Koa’s, but then you spot the waiting shoes. It takes you a moment to realize that they’re waiting for a pair of socks to go with, which you had honestly forgotten about in the excitement of thinking up the outfit. In just a few seconds, you make a pair of white knee-high socks to go with the white and blue high tops, then they’re off.

 You chuckle, unaware of a certain skeleton’s eyes watching you curiously, with many questions rolling through his mind as you begin on your son’s outfit. _Hmm… well I’m pretty sure that Koa isn’t going to want to want something casual, but I doubt that he’s really going for anything especially formal either.  Considering how he and Lexia are, flexible and workable for whatever situation comes up seems like a good plan._

 Taking a moment to gather your thoughts, you look down at Koa and blink a few times. He’s got much darker skin than Lexia, in a shade that’s similar to your tan right now. His hair is a shade of indigo that’s dark enough to almost pass for black at a speedy glance. He has a rather pointed nose, subtly lighter lips, high cheekbones, and thick eyebrows. Overall, he stands out as his own person, but you can see some similarities between your physique and his that for what you can tell, is on the positive side. You can’t tell too much since he’s still under the blanket, but in the end it's not as though that really matters. The individuality of shapes, sizes, and colours amongst canorals is part of what makes the magic folk community so unique and fun! You’d love the kid even if he looked and smelled like a swamp dredge.

 Breaking out of that train of thought, it takes you a moment longer to mull over what kind of attire might best fit his personality; but when the idea hits you, you snap your fingers and grin. "Oh yeah, this is going to be easy." Your magic begins putting together more fabric as you now consider the style and fabric to use.

 Your family crest is something that the kid had asked about earlier, and he seemed pretty gung-ho on wearing it too. You had honestly kind of forgotten it was there, having not worn it in forever, but still having the pretty thing ingrained into your mind. It was a mostly old fashioned thing that was hardly used anymore– those clan and familial symbols. You kept yours because, well, you were the last of your family and ethnic origin in StoneArch. Most people still recognize it too, if they didn’t recognize you first anyways. So when Koa asked what the spiraled sun wrapped in a waning moon, half encircled in a stem which spirals out and cupping a five petalled flower, you had told him what it was—albeit a little surprised—and he immediately demanded excitedly that he got to wear it too.

 He had also requested that he wore clothes like yours, which was entirely acceptable. If he wanted to dress using your formal attire as a basis, who were you to stop him? But something told you that he would need something a little more functional and with a newer style to really fit his tastes. Pulling a pad of paper and your favourite fountain pen from another ripple in space, you begin to sketch out the basic design.

 With practiced ease, you draw out two different layers– decidedly drawing the jumper from the back so you can pen in your now shared crest on it. It’s a zip up hoodie, but with a little more form to it than regular, stooping at the back a little so that the tails brush the back of his knees, and matching his initial amulet gem’s colour. It’s pretty cool, and is definitely going to cause a ruckus like you had when you altered and re-embroidered your ‘robes.’ The thought starts you to chuckling softly. _But! Onwards with the design!_ You sketch in the crest in gold, like your own outfit has, as well as intricate patterns around the edges along the seams.  

 Glancing up to look at your handy work developing in real time, you realize that everyone has gathered around to watch you do your thing. Your mind stutters, blinking a few times before you giggle and start on the other layer of the outfit.

 This part is definitely not much like your outfit. You’re pretty sure he’ll forgive you for it anyways. And it’s not like you can’t make him more clothes if he doesn’t like these. So therefore, you continue. You piece together a pure white tee, making it specifically to loosely fit, and accompanying it with a pair of similarly designed dark blue jeans. Nothing as fancy as the hoodie, but all of the fabric—like in Lexia R.’s outfit—is made of the same sinfully comfortable material your fancy clothes are made of. While finishing up with socks and black combat boots, you find the inspiration to make the kid a bright mint beanie. _That part is mostly for kicks and giggles. I wonder how he’s going to react?_ Smiling and giggling softly, you wave a dismissive your hand and the clothes fly over to Koa, burying themselves under the blanket and squirming around until he’s dressed; with the exception of the beanie which just casually floats over to his head and slips itself on gently.

 Now satisfied with a job well done, you carefully pull the blanket off of the two, as well as Sans’ fluffy hoodie. You toss the blanket at Jack, because he’s not paying much attention and you snort when he flails as it hits him. With that out of the way, you hand the warm hoodie back to Sans who shrugs it back on, nodding in thanks. You note how one, Sans is giving you funny side glances when he thinks you’re not looking; and two, that the little babs are finally waking up.

 Lexia is the first to really stir, although not being able to open her eyes yet she just lets out a soft whine and attempts to sit up, only finding that she can’t move very well. Koa however, opens his eyes and sits up tiredly with ease and a yawn. “‘Ello everyone.” He rubs his eyes and looks down at himself, then Lexia, then you and Sans. It takes him a second, but then he yelps and holds his hands in front of his face. He opens and closes them, then focuses in on you. “Mum! Who showed up first!?”

 Lexia R. groans and mumbles something in almost a pained manner and Koa quickly leans over and ever so gently lifts her up. “Here, it’s like this Lexie.” You watch fondly as your son puts his forehead to hers and closes his eyes, a soft glow emanating between the two before parting once more. His vibrant indigo irises watch the girl in his arms carefully, thin lips breaking into a wide and slightly crooked grin as she opens her eyes. “Well hey there stranger. You look fantastic.”

 There’s a collective soft gasp of surprise that comes from most of the onlookers when they notice Lexia’s black sclera and startlingly milky-white irises. She blinks a few times, smiles widely, then bursts out laughing.

 Koa rolls his eyes and pokes her nose. “What are you laughing at, huh? Is it my face? It had better not be my face, Lex. _I_ don’t even know what my face looks like. Therefore, _I_ need to be the first one who gets to laugh at it if it looks ridiculous. Got it?” He teases with a grin which makes her giggle more.

 “No! That’s not why I’m laughing, you dull shine. It’s just, we’ve got movable bodies now! How cool is that?” She lifts her hand up in front of her face and pulls it back to touch her hair. “I’ve got arms and legs and hair and- wait, I’ve got a pulse too!” She squeals and yanks Koa’s hand to touch her neck. “Feel it, feel it! It does that funny ‘bu-bump’ thing! Over and over! AHHHHHH!” She squeals excitedly again, and Koa laughs.

 “I know! It’s super cool! I’ve got one too! And you look great, actually. Did you make these clothes mum?” Your kid turns to look at you, still grinning.

 “You bet I did. How do you two like them?” You chuckle and crouch down in front of the pair. “I can change up anything you don’t like, so make sure you let me know.” You mess with Lexia’s hair much like you would Frisk and Chara’s, then twist Koa’s beanie so it sits on his head crooked and his hair is spun all funny.

 “Pfft.” The two laugh and mess with your hair right back. “Yeah, I like the clothes. How about you, Miss _Lexia R_.?”

 “Yes!” The little gal grins and punches the air. “They are fantastic! And I’ve got _pockets!_ I have _so many pockets!”_ She demonstrates by opening them all and shoving her hands in. “See! It’s so great! But you never answered my question, Mama A. Who was born first!?”

 “i’d say you two were actually born at the same time.” Sans steps in, grinning casually. “since i don’t actually have strangely sensitive eyes, i kinda got to watch the whole thing. your amulets both kind of exploded at the same time and you both finished morphing—a’least for the most part—around the same moment.” He shrugs, grinning and with his hands deep in his pockets. “but hey, you two are _rock-ing_ the looks you got. _Granite-d_ we knew you’d turn out great no matter what. plus a here has a great sense of style.”

 Before Lexia can respond more than opening her mouth to reply, Koa speaks up. “Well obviously. I don’t mean to start a _query_ since it wouldn’t be _pelite,_ but there was no way that either of us were going to turn out _schisty,_ Sans. Still, I’m not going to make a _mountain out of a molehill._ That’d leave our relationship off to a _rocky_ start.” He smirks and everyone starts laughing with the exception of a few amused groans. Sans’ eyes widen gleefully. _Are those really stars in his eyelights…?_

 “a, you’ve raised your kid well.”

 “As if,” you chortle with a shrug, “I only just met him today.”

 “Well he’s been feeding off of your magic, Áine.” Lexia pipes up wryly. “He’s been _talc-ing_ like this for a long while yet, and he had to get it from somewhere, right? Still, I can admit that his wordplay is _igneous._ Even though after years of that being the only source of entertainment, it started to get a little _aggregate-ing._ That was, until I started like a _rock-et_ and took the floor by a _landslide._ ” She smirks and even Sans guffaws this time, wiping a fake tear from his eye.

 “you kids are _pun-tastic._ and paps is gonna loose his mind when he finds out he’s got a younger sister who enjoys punny jokes too. Welcome to the fam, kiddo.” He holds his hand out to help Lexia up, but she just rolls her eyes and folds her arms, still leaning comfortably on Koa.

 _How cute._ You don’t have to try to hold back your smile as it is pretty funny she totally just shot Sans down there.

 Yup, that’s totally what you’re smirking about. Mhm.

 “Don’t think that I don’t know what you were doing just now, brother dearest.” She grins knowingly. “I may be new to this body, but I’m not new to the world. I could see a prank that obvious an island away!” Koa snickers at Sans’ initially shocked and mildly insulted expression.

 “Sans, you should’ve seen the look on your face!” He stands and holds a hand out to Lexia, making sure that she takes Sans’ now prank-free hand as well, the two of them pulling her up easily.

 While Koa seems mostly steady in moving his body, Lexia is still rather unsteady and accidentally stumbles into Sans, sighing exasperatedly and apologizing. “‘s no problem, sis. we’ll getcha off that drunk’s stumble quick enough.” He pokes her sides and she yelps and smacks his head, pouting.

 “That was rude, bro.” She sticks her tongue out at him then giggles and pulls his cheeks.

 “wat,” sans looks at her, totally perplexed while his new sister manhandles his (more flexible than you had initially thought) boney face, “are you doing?”

 Lexia boops his forehead with a gleam in her beautifully strange eyes. “Not much. Just _poking_ fun at you brotha.”

 Sans snorts and puts his head in his free hand. “oh sheesh, kid. you’re good.”

 You smile as they continue their banter, but turn back to Koa who is chuckling while standing next to you. He’s nearly as tall as you are, just half a foot off. In comparison to Lexia R., _he’s_ the one taller by a half a foot, which makes Sans’ sister just barely shorter than the skeleboi.

 “Hey there, handsome son of mine.” You grin and elbow him slightly, getting his attention with a cheeky grin. “How goes it?”

 Koa grins back at you  and sighs contently. “It’s great. I love having a body that I can move around on my own. And look at this!” He takes your hand and glows softly, then shrinks down... into his old amulet and chain?

 “Wait, what!?” You hold him up to your face, slightly alarmed. “Koa, you can change back on your own, right?” You hear a mischievous chuckle from the amulet, which is joined by Lexia half a second later. You look up to see Sans holding a white amulet, just like you are. Your eyes meet and hold for a moment of silent communication, then you both mirror each other as you and he nonchalantly put the amulets on over your heads with a shrug.

 “so, kiddo-”

 “Wanna try changing back now?”

 “hmm? what’s that? it’d be embarrassing?”

 “Well, that’s your fault then isn’t it?”

 _Muuuummm! That’s not even fair!_ Koa whines in your mind, although you can tell that he see’s how maybe this situation is a bit funny and maybe sort of his fault. Minorly.

 You and Sans look at each other again, and burst out laughing. “oh man, you kids are just so fun to mess with.”

 You hum. “Still, I dare you to change back.” You grin slyly, goading the two. _I think I know what’ll happen if they do… this ought to be interesting._ “Or maybe you can’t…? That’d be a major weakness if someone accidentally wore you, you know.”

 _No, we can do it!_ Lexia speaks in everyone’s minds. _It’s just… well. It can be a little awkward is all._

 “hmm, i don’t believe it.” Sans shrugs, but you can tell from the slight glint of his eyelight that he’s totally egging them on. “you both woulda done it already if ya could.”

 _You know, it’s pretty obvious that you’re trying to rile us up Sans. You’re not very good at being tricky._ Koa chuckles. _I can see right through you and your act._

 _Wait, really!?_ Lexia pipes up. _Koa, you gotta teach me this stuff man. I can’t see it worth dirt._

 Sans blinks at this, looking directly at you with a raised bone-brow. “huh. ‘s that so? is this some sort of inheritance, a? since ‘parently ya both can read me like a book.”

 You shrug. “I don’t know. If I did, then it was entirely unintentional. That or this squirt here is just that good.”

 _Nah, he hasn’t always been like that._ Lexia giggles. _So I’d say that it was inherited with Mama A’s whacky magical signature and energy._

 “rude.” Sans chuckles with a smirk. “but you still haven’t proven that you can change back like this. ‘m still p sure you lyin’ pal.”

 _UGH! Fine! Your stubborn pestering wins. I’ll change back and you’ll be low-key weirded out._ She glows white once more and morphs back into her humanoid form, sitting with on San’s shoulders and leaning with her arms crossed against his head. “See?”

 “uh, welp. i guess so. that’s not what i was expectin’, that’s for sure. not sure if that counts as weirded out though.” Sans looks up at her with a chuckle. “How’s the rain up there, kiddo?”

 Koa snorts, glowing a soft indigo and slinking down till he’s standing next to you. “I mean, it’s not actually raining, but otherwise it’s pretty good, _Sans the height_.”

 Sans rolls his eyes good naturedly despite the jab. “nice.”

 You open your mouth to say something, but close it when you feel a tap on your shoulder from behind. Turning, you look back to see the rest of the gang, either sitting still with their amulets, or waiting to talk with you. In the waiting group you see Lillie with Red, Emm with Pink, Danniel with Yellow, and Agatha happily tagging along with them (although you suspect it’s mostly Danniel she’s hanging out with). After a quick side glance, you notice that Jack and Arthur are yet a little too tipsy to be holding the attention span for more than the serious conversation that you’re guessing is still going down with their amulets.

 “Well hello there ladies and gentle-gems,” you grin and the group giggles a little, “what’s up?”

 “Well we were thinking,” Danniel starts with a cheery and ambitious grin.

 “That maybe you could help us put together a naming ceremony for the other gems.” Agatha finishes for her with a giddy clap of her hands.

 “Oooooh! A Naming Ceremony huh?” You grin and put your hands on your hips. “Sounds like fun. But didn’t you cute little amulets want to get your bodies asap?”

 “Mhm!” Red speaks up in your mind. “Of course we do! Agatha, Lexia and Koa just received their names which had some sort of special meaning or background or moment, but the rest of us aren’t so sure yet. We need a bit more time. Especially for our parents to not be drunk in the middle of it.” He ends with obvious agitation by the end.

 “So we thought,” Pink buffers the conversation gently, “that maybe we could make it some sort of special occasion? We could make it super special or something, and then make it a tradition of sorts; like a birthday! That was the idea anyways.” His voice goes a little sheepish at the end of his joyful outburst.

 You chuckle and quirk your smile. “Sounds good to me! Have someone let me know when everyone has chosen a name for themselves, and I’ll set up a spiffy place and time! Oh this is going to be so cool.” Your eyes light up in excited joy as you and the group chatting with you all giggle, grin, and are generally enthusiastic about the soon-to-be ceremony.

 With that settled, your eye catches Jack waving everyone over. _Maybe they’ve figured out a name for Orange?_ Not thinking much of it, you and everyone else head over to the next room where Jack and Arthur are sitting on the couches.

 “Yeah? What’s up Jack?” You sit down in the middle of the large sofa on the opposite side of the two drunks. Sans sits next to you, leaning against the armrest like it’s second nature. Koa sits next to you while Lexia totally crashes on Sans’ lap with a cheeky smirk, Agatha and Danniel sit down, thick as thieves, beside Koa and thereby end up taking the rest of the couch space. Emm and Lillie sit on the two armchairs with their amulets around their necks, still smiling brightly.

 “SO,” Jack starts, a smug ‘I know what you did’ look on his face as he obviously looks between you and Sans. “How was the stargazing date, lovernerds?” Everyone looks at the two of you, even the amulets are pointing their attention at you both. A grin on each and every face.

 You and Sans look at each other, then burst out laughing again. You’re both too busy giggling and snorting with laughter to properly appreciate just how funny everyone’s expressions of confusion are.

 “me and a?”

 “Sans and I?”

 You look at each other again and nearly fall off the couch laughing.

 “Nah. There’s no way that was a date.”

 “psh-” Sans wheezes, grin larger than before. “undyne would love that. but- but wait, do you _never_ go out or somethin’, a? oh stars, no wonder the twins first question at seeing your ‘fancy’ clothes was if you were finally goin’ to go on a date!” You both fall back into laughter, tears streaming down your face with your elation in having good friends how much your everything hurts from laughing so much in one day.

 “T-that is so rude Sans!” You giggle out, desperately trying to reign in your laughter for what feels like the millionth time this evening.

 “maybe, but you didn’t deny it a!” he points at you, smiling triumphantly. He takes a deep breath and calms down his laughter but you notice with a well trained eye that it’s done nothing for that victorious smile.

 “Neither did I admit to anything either.” You smirk back while he chuckles. “I’d say I’m innocent until proven guilty.”

 “The jury finds you guilty!” Lillie calls from the other side of the spacious room. You stick your tongue out at her then smile.

 “Yeah, alright. I guess that’s acceptable. I’ll admit it: I don’t actually think I’ve been on a legitimate date before.” You pause to think a moment, then add, “one that wasn’t a friend date anyways.”

 “hold up,” Sans looks up at you in honest disbelief, “you’ve never been on a romantic date before? like, you’ve never been in a romantic relationship?”

 You shrug. “Nah. It was never really my scene.”

 “there’s no way.”

 “You’d better believe it, Sans. We would have thought the same thing if we hadn’t known her for so long.” Emm pipes up from the stove where she’s cooking with Arthur. “She’s just never really seen anyone in a romantic lighting is what the rest of us have concluded. That or she just doesn’t actually care. That’s still in discussion.”

 Sans clearly cannot grasp this idea. “k, but if you’re _over 7000 years old_ , wouldn’t it make sense to have at least _been_ with someone? how do you not even end up going on a blind date or something?” He turns back and asks you incredulously. 

 You smile wryly and shrug once again. “I wasn’t interested, and no one could make me stay long enough to change my mind.” You lean back in the chair you’ve seated yourself in, fingers lacing themselves together behind your head while you smirk at Jack who sighs dramatically in his rather tipsy fashion.

 “Yeah, we tried; once or twice. The problem was that we had no way of nullifying her magic so she always TPed out. Even surprising her with it never worked out.”

 You chuckle. “Yup. But you still love me, even after those awkward ‘sorry she’s actually busy’ cards you used.” Jack, Emm, and Lillie sigh.

 Arthur chuckles and turns to look at you. “Yes, if I remember correctly Áine, they tried to set you an me up once upon a time. I think since we did in fact know each other well before hand, they took the liberty to tell me that you had ‘skedaddled out to who knows where’ before anyone could convince you otherwise.”

 You smile sheepishly at the story. “Yeah, I think I remember that happening. Sorry, but still kinda not sorry?” You grin when Arthur rolls his eyes good naturedly.

 “Yes, I rather expected as much. No one here really seemed to be able to fit and match your energy quite well enough to have lasted in a functioning relationship. But…” He glances over to your left for a moment where Sans and Lexia are sitting, much to your confusion, then looks back to you with a calculating grin. “Perhaps now the winds have changed and there’s a chance for you yet.”

 You sigh theatrically. “Arty, no. Bad Arty. You can’t turn into the rest of my friends here who try to turn my life into shipping spaghetti or something. I need at least _one_ person in my life who doesn’t try to slyly comment on who I would look good paired with while I’m around, who isn’t my son. Nor my adopted goddaughter. I have to stay sane somehow!”

 Emm giggles and you look over at her worriedly. “No! Sorry! I was just thinking that, well, when was the last time we actually had a discussion that ended with everyone deciding that you were legitimately sane? I can’t even remember it, because we’ve always concluded that someone who leaves their house and safety of the StoneArch’s barriers to go chat with a massive ocean python who wants to eat everyone on the island, is not soundly sane.”

 You roll you eyes. “You’re starting a war I don’t think you want to really begin again, Mrs. Jack. I’ve got dirt on you like you wouldn’t believe, cutie.”

 “wait, what?” Sans looks between Jack and Emm in confusion. “you two are a thing?”

 Jack bursts into laughter, half chokes, and has to cough laugh the rest of the sudden outburst off. “Yeah. We’ve been married forever.” He and Emm hold up their left hands to show matching bands of gold with orange and pink little jewels inlaid around their ring fingers. “Well, at least it’s been a really long time anyways. We got married in our… 800s? Yeah, something like that.” He shrugs and Emm rolls her eyes.

 Everyone falls into casual banter and conversation after that. It’s entirely more peaceful than you usual night routine.

 It almost has you stumped an hour later of hanging out, chatting about nothing and everything, and getting to know some of the gems better as well as your son when your vocchron friends head out with their gems. Usually everyone insists on staying the night, but this time you suspect that everyone wants to be on their own for a little bit of mourning for Zantha on their own. That makes sense, but it warms your heart when you catch Danniel insisting that Agatha come to stay with her, leaving no room for argument or refusal, which Agatha does neither of and gratefully accepts the demanded request with a relieved smile. You absolutely adore their newfound friendship and how supportive they are of one another.

 Still, it catches you by surprise when the cute amulet-child comes to you to ask permission first. You have to catch yourself quickly in order to respond properly, but you don’t have too much trouble and insist that you draw the Arch up for them to ensure that they get there safely.

 _Oh my stars, I’m already such a mum and it hasn’t even been a day yet._ You have to hide a giddy smile as you finish up your very carefully drawn Arch—which you did do on purpose, in part to ensure safety and also to see what Agatha’s reaction might be. You were not disappointed when Agatha, Danniel, _and_ Yellow whined about you purposely taking too long on purpose. You teased them and made sure to send them off with some food you quickly snatched from your more frequently used house, since you’re more than sure that Danniel would not be prepared for breakfast for another canoral after such a crazy day and with no warning beforehand.

 You waved them goodbye and tossed Agatha a phone you had put together during the massive group conversation and told her to message or call you if she ever needed anything or had any questions. She nodded politely and with a smile assured you that she’d call later to get some help with her magic and controlling it. And with that, you called goodbye one last time and deactivated the Arch.

 “so a, feeling like a bossy boots mother hen yet?” Sans cackles from behind you and you roll your eyes as you turn back to look at him. _Oh of course he noticed that. Silly skeleton._

 “Actually, I’m pretty sure that I’m a vocchron. Not a hen.” You prattle back sarcastically, and bring a hand to your heart as you close your eyes for dramatic effect. “You wound me Sans.”

 “huh?” You peek down at him and really have to put some effort into keeping your satirical act up. He’s totally low-key panicking here.

 “You call me a coward, Sans the Guts. How dare you.” You snicker at the end and notice San’s tense expression suddenly relax. “I was kidding, pal. Don’t worry.”

 “Wow Sans,” Koa smirks at the skeleton, “when was the last time you had someone to talk with who could deal more damage in conversation than you?”

 Sans shrugs sheepishly. “too long, kiddo.”

 “Hey Koa,” Lexia jabs him in the side and sticks her tongue out at him, “don’t pick on my big brother, or I’ll have a _bone_ to pick with you.”

 All present company snickers and you end with a soft sigh. “Well, I do think that it’s time to sleep. So, we have a few options: one, we stay here for the night. Two, we stay the night at my other place which involves much less cleaning. Three we try sleeping out under the stars. Four we either split and drop Lexia and Sans at their place in their new pocket dimension. And five, we crash someone else’s place for the heck of it. Just not Jack’s place. His man-cave extends throughout the whole house. So what do we want?”

 Everyone thinks it over for a moment, then seem to come to a unanimous conclusion:

 “other place.”-“Your other place.”-”The other one, mum.”

 The three look at each other in surprise, then grin. “well,” Sans puts his hands back in his hoodie’s pockets and smiles, “‘m glad we’re all on the same page then.”

 You chuckle. “Well I’ll tidy up and we’ll be off then.” Smiling, you close your eyes and lift your arms lightly in front of you as your hands begin to glow. With a soft breath, your magic rushes the stupidly massive house like a pulse, returning it in near an instant, to it’s regular appearance. With the suns gone from the ceiling, the whole house is suddenly much darker. You hum softly and nod, satisfied with your clean up work. No more oasis, no snow biome, jungle, volcano; none of it. But, since it _is_ the middle of the night still, you choose to light a fire in the palm of your hand and quickly draw up an Arch back to your cute little house. “Well, let’s be off, shall we?”

  
_she cleared up the mess in like, four seconds. what. even. is. this._ He chuckles a sigh.

 “Well, let’s be off, shall we?” Your tired, yet chipper voice breaks his train of thought. He focuses back in on you as you activate the Arch.

 “sure-”

 “Okay mum!” Koa smiles happily, totally cutting him off and hugging you from behind. You laugh and mess with the kid’s beanie. It’s only when Koa looks back at him, and smirks almost evilly while you’re not paying attention, that he realizes he was frowning. “Hey, why don’t you and Lexia go ahead and get all changed and set up mum? Sans and I can wait here for a few, right _bud_?”

 “uh, yeah. sure. ‘s no probl’m.” He puts on his regular, carefree smile and shrugs nonchalantly. Clearly you don’t exactly buy it and neither does Lexia R.

 “Uh-huh… Well I’ll bite. Play nice boys.” You make the ‘I’ve got my eyes on you’ sign with your hand and glare. Lexia R. just quirks her eyebrow at them, unimpressed, then turns with you to walk through the Arch. It deactivates, but leaves the diagram after you both walk through.

 “So,” Koa immediately turns on him with a narrow gaze, mischief thinly veiling it. “You got a thing for my mum huh?”

 He splutters. “w-what?” _that’s not what i was expecting. what’s this kid got going on in his head?_ “uh, kid, is your mind all in one piece still?”

 Koa rolls his eyes. “Mhm. Sure. Yeah you can’t lie to me, Sans. Maybe you can lie to yourself, but I can see ri-ight through you.”

 “k, i’m not really sure what you’re saying but-”

 Koa cuts in again, glaring him down now. “But let’s just set something straight, _pal._ You don’t get to hurt my mother, _or I will do more than hurt you._ ” His smile is creeper than Chara’s.

 

 

_("But still something is not quite right...")_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU READ ANOTHER OF MY FREAKISHLY LONG CHAPTERS!
> 
> THAT IS SO COOL!!! (Sorry for shouting, I just had to get that off my chest. x•D )
> 
> Anyways, leave me some comments to let me know what you think! Also, if you want to see how I drew the crest too. I just have no idea how to put pictures up on here. LoL
> 
> You people are fabulous and I love you all! (▰˘◡˘▰)  
> ~pS


	12. A Moment to be Reunited for the First Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected twist of fate. Lucky Lexia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I basically just typed up a little more than half of this chapter right now and I am actually just exhausted from life and I myself am ready to sleep. What happens in this chapter is not what I had originally intended to put into it, but the whole thing worked out pretty well in the end so I'll keep it.
> 
> I might go back and edit these half awake drabblings, but hopefully I'm still coherent enough to not have made _that many_ mistakes.
> 
> Thank you all for reading this, even if it seems like I'm just writing nonsense. LoL  
> Love you all, kids.  
> ~pS

**_(“But something is still not quite right…”)_ **

 

 You finish changing into your jammies—which of course you still call them that, growing up is too much of a hassle—and prepping the other bedrooms in the house for Lexia R. and Sans, separately preparing a permanent room for Koa. With a satisfied smile, you walk over to the bathroom where you let Lexia R. change and examine her body in privacy if she felt like it. Knocking gently, you speak up with a grin. “Having any trouble in there?”

 “THIS IS SO CRAZY!!” Lexia basically shouts back, clearly super thrilled to have a body. “I HAVE NO IDEA HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS BUT I’VE GOT ARMS AND LEGS AND A FACE!!!!!! AND I’VE GOT A HEAD AND HAIR AND HANDS AND FEET WITH FINGERS AND TOES AND THERE ARE THESE WEIRD HOLES ALL OVER BUT I LOVE IT ALL!” She squeals and laughs.

 You laugh with her on the other side of the door. “Well there you go. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. By the way, if you ever need something or want something explained that either your brothers can’t answer, or have no idea how to answer, then don’t be afraid ask me alright? I gotcha covered for whatever you need.”

 There are more giggles from the other side of the door. “Yeah, thanks! I’ll probably take you up on that. SOMETHING tells me that my skele-bros either aren’t going to know, or they’ll get extremely awkward about anything that they _do_ know, incredibly fast.”

_Oh, she is totally smirking. I have no doubt that she’s smirking._ You snicker, and idea coming to mind. “You’re totally going to ask Sans some of these potentially awkward questions first, aren’t you?”

 The door opens and Lexia R. stands there, smirking _(_ _called it)_ , dressed in the jammies you made, and with a sassy hand on her hips. “Obviously. They’ve had a me sized gap in their souls this whole while, I’ve got to make up for lost time.” She shrugs nonchalantly as she winks, but does nothing to hide the mischievous look in her eye and smile. _Sh_ _e’s picked up quite a few mannerisms from Sans already...._

 Your quirky grin widens and you snicker. “Oh no. I’ll wish them luck for the future. Somehow I feel like you’re not going to get any less than their best awkward and embarrassed reactions once you start this.”

 “Yeeeup.” Lexia giggles again, her gorgeous white irises amongst the sea of black glow a little for a moment, then return to their regular white. _Interesting… I wonder what’s up with that?_

 You mess up her hair with your tamed grin. “You are such a troublemaker, even from the beginning!”

 “Hey!” She complains and tries to stop you from messing with her hair. “And I haven’t even started yet!”

 You roll your eyes. “Uh-huh. But you’re planning already. That means you’re planning on bringing trouble. Therefore, you are. A. Trouble. Maker.” You say those last few words pointedly, each with a playful poke to her forehead.

 Then a chill goes up your spine.

 Tensing, you let your magic pulse out to check the house and it’s surroundings. The scan comes up blank, but you know that something still isn’t right…

 “-ne.”

_Huh?_

 “A-n-ie--ire!”

_What’s that?_

 “AUNTIE ÁINE!!” Lexia R. shouts into your ear after clearly having yanked you down. How else could she have shouted in your ear?

 You jump a little and blink. “Y-yeah? ‘Sup?”

 Lexia has wrapped her arms around one of yours and seems to be clinging for dear life. “Can you bring us back home Auntie A?” Her voice is smooth and calm. Very well controlled too, you notice. A little too well controlled.

 Looking down you see that you’ve ended up in the black place, thingy. _I think I’ll just stick to calling it Black Space._ It takes you a moment still to realize that, no, you absolutely _shouldn’t_ be in this place again. Yet, it seems as though you still probably should. Besides, you don’t really know how to actually get in or out of this place anyways. Moving your attention back to Lexia R., you hook your free arm around her, coax her to let go of your other arm, then wrap that arm around her as well, pulling her close.

 “Sorry,” you begin, somewhat lamely. “I… I don’t really know how I got us here. I’ve never been able to come here on purpose. In fact…” You look around curiously at the nothingness that prevails, “I have only been here twice before now. But don’t worry, We’ll get back eventually. Whatever this is doesn’t have too much of a problem with us, and whoever it is who lives here is rooting for us in some shape or form.” As you finish, you note Lexia’s tense body and rub her back soothingly. “Hey, it’s alright. Relax. Here, deep breaths with me, alright? One…” You help her begin breathing again, humming to her softly as she starts to cry.

 “I-I-” She makes out through her tears. “Th-this place…” she sniffles, “I just- it scares me. I… I f-feel at home here. And-and I j-just don't understand it!” She shudders with sobs again and you just continue to rub her back, most definitely more than a little surprised by her answer.

_She feels at home here?_ Your puzzled mind mulls over this statement for a moment. _Is this where the amulet's consciousness came from?_ Your think over this idea, until another presence in front of you causes you to look up.

 It's ever so slightly darker than the darkness around you. It's all sorts of blobish, like it's trying to hold itself together but keeps slipping away, occasionally glitching away. The whole thing startles you, especially the fact that it some how managed to catch you unawares. But that's not what's shaking you to the core right now. The part of this that is making your soul quiver, is it's face.

 It looks like a nearly flat, white mask, jagged gash for a strangely grimaced smile of a mouth. A round gouge for an eye, accompanied with a crescent moon for the second eye. Cracked lines break the mask going up from the middle of the crescent moon, and down from oval to the edge of the strange and minorly disturbing mouth. Two little lights rest in the eye-holes.

 This thing almost looks exactly like Gaster. And it terrifies you.

 In response to the sudden appearance, you clutch Lexia R. closer to you and shift into a defensive stance, somewhere realizing that you aren't in fact mindlessly floating anymore. The mask frowns and a garbled noise reaches your ears before the thing stops, and skeletal hands with holes in the centre of each palm appear, shaking side to side hurriedly then signing to you in a strange and familiar way. For a split second, your head hurts tremendously and you grit your teeth. Then, with a wave of one of the oddly detached hands (and an eye-light roll you almost miss), the pain disappears. The being tries again and this time, you understand.

**_I apologize, old friend. I did not mean to startle you. I would speak again, but I'm afraid it keeps far too much energy and concentration to create coherent sound once more in such a short period of time. I had wished to speak with you on the matter of a few things, but in my haste I was unaware that you brought with you someone else. May I enquire as to whom this mysterious newcomer is?_ ** The mask tilts curiously to the side, hand rising to where you might imagine a chin to be and rubbing it softly. **_They seem... Familiar?_ ** The spare hand signs alone.

 You frown a little. "You... Are you really Gaster?"

 The being blinks, then uses a hand to knock on nothing. **_Yes. Was that not clear from the start? My apologies. Again._ **

 Lexia, you now notice, has relaxed significantly. To the point that she turns slightly in your grasp to peek back at whatever has you on edge. The moment that her unique eyes meet "Gaster's," her eyes glow again and the blob in front of you coherently gasps.

**_Little one... I should know those eyes anywhere. You are one of my own, aren't you?_ ** His one of a kind signing is soft, careful, and oddly... Certain. Lexia, to your immense surprise, nods and breaks out of your hold, running at him. Before you can even think of how to react, she's hugging his gooey and blobby form like she would never have another chance.

 "...Dad." She croaks out, voice a mix of anguish and relief. Tears of glowing white trickle down her face and land on him, then disappearing into the darkness of his form. By the widening of his... good eye? Sure. From his expression you can tell that her tears stabilising his form to become more and more like the skeleton you knew, was as very much not expected, just as her embrace was. After a good minute or so of her crying on him, he looks very much the way that he used to. Cautiously, he sits down—now much taller than he was as a blob—his long arms slowly moving around Lexia to lift her properly into his lap and hold her closer.

 You remain frozen in shock. A fact that you don't think you can do much about until your mind catches up with this situation. Numbly, you observe Lexia calm down and begin to breathe softly in her father's arms. "... Hi dad." She mumbles quietly into his usual grey turtleneck jumper. "Sorry about the mess."

 He chuckles, that deep sound that moves the soul to laugh as well. "I see no problem with this, crystal child of mine. The only possible problem I may have is that I don't know your name yet." Anyone could tell without looking that he's not mad in the least and smiling fondly, face now connected to a skull, not looking as nearly rough as before.

 "Oh. Yeah. That's a thing, huh?" Lexia R. looks up at him, then snorts while trying to stifle a laugh.

 "Oh dear. What is it?" Gaster asks, obviously mildly worried.

 "No-no, sorry." The gal giggles gleefully. "I didn't mean anything bad by it. It's just that, well, I'm meeting my—technically speaking here—dad right now. The guy we all thought was dead, and or couldn't exactly remember. And you know me, but you have no idea who I am, and this has to be the weirdest place I've ever been, which admittedly can't mean too much since I haven't been allowed nor able to go to too many places yet." She takes a breath, cutting herself off for a moment. "Okay, sorry. That was a bit of a rant. But, my name is Lexia Readable Calligrapher. Technically that last part isn't exactly official since Sans didn't say it out loud, but it's an acknowledged fact between the two of us all the same." Her smile is dazzling and it obviously melts Gaster's heart, just a lottle.

_She is going to be_ such _the spoiled youngest child..._

 "You are quite alright, Lexia Readable. It is an honour to finally meet you, my dear." He takes both of her hands carefully in his own and kisses each gently. "I apologise for not have being able to name you myself. Perhaps you might not have been cursed with a font for a name if I were not trapped in this Void." He sends you a pointed and wry look, which finally jerks your mind into loading all current information in front of you.

 You giggle and grin. "Okay, but in my defense, you didn't have to listen to my suggestions. At all."

 "No, perhaps not." He regards you with a dry smile. "But I did trust that you would present good, strong names that would not be totally ridiculous."

 You shrug cheekily, "but they are strong names! They managed to become fonts, did they not? And they both match the personalities developed quite well, don't you think?"

 His good eye narrows at you suspiciously. "... I call time shenanigans."

 You scoff as though utterly offended. “You dare-? I am in fact, an honorary Space-Time worker, recognized by the great leader Memyself Andi, since I was but a wee little lass.” You put a hand over your chest, milking the act for all its worth. "How could you possibly ever think that I could pull such a dastardly move!"

 Gaster gives you your favourite amused 'oh stars, here she goes again' expression that only makes you grin wider and walk over to sit in front of him. "Mhm. Sure. That is clearly exactly what couldn't have happened then, oh honest one?"

 You snicker. "Yup. Totally. 100% that may or may not be what happened."

 You both look at each other in silence for a few seconds, Lexia looking between you almost worriedly, before the pair of you burst out laughing. "I cannot deny, dear friend, that you did choose well. It has been a long time, and I have missed your company here. Well, in the moments I had a decent consciousness, at least."

 With a quirked eyebrow you rest your chin on your hand. “Oh? That would be implying that more often than not, you were incapable to maintain decent or functional consciousness. What happened to you, Dings? I noticed you tried ‘enhancing’ your son too. We talked about stuff like that before, Gast. That was one of our biggest ‘we don’t ever do this ever ever ever’ things and I was gone for how long before you broke this taboo?” Your expression becomes worried. “I think that… well, I don’t know the whole story, but I do know you. Something down there pushed you to your breaking point… didn’t it?”

 Gaster sighs and nods. “Indeed…” he rests his chin gently on the top Lexia Reader’s head in sombre thought. “There is much I would like to speak with you on this matter but I am afraid that our time here is limited and quickly drawing to an end.” You watch him frown sadly as Lexia hugs him tightly, burying her face in his chest.

 “Nope. Nuh-uh. I refuse.” Her voice is muffled, but it’s pretty obvious that she’s fairly mad about the sudden turning of events. “You can’t just leave! I only just met you! I don’t even know what your whole name is or what your favourite colour is or how old you are or how old we think _I_ am or what this place really is or how you ended up in here or if I’ll ever get to see you again or when I’ll get to see you again or-”

 Gaster cuts her off with a bemused smile and carefully forces her to look up at him. “My dear, sweet, Lexia Readable Calligrapher.” He chuckles softly. “We shall indeed meet again, I have no doubt of it. It may take some time, but I believe that… you called her _aunt_ Áine? An unusual and peculiar misuse of familial labelling, but that is besides the point. In any case, I have reason to believe that my old partner in crime Áine Reality Shaker here will find a way to pull me out of this place.” You blink a little at the use of your old title. “I would be more than enamored if we could freely chat at length then, little one.” He cups her cheek in his hand affectionately.

 “In the meantime, my full name is WingDings Gaster and yes you may laugh, my favourite colour is hazelnut brown, I am… probably 5400-ish? Hmm, I think that will be something we can find out later, together—along with your approximate age too.” He smiles widely at her, and she grins back, irises shining white again. “The story of how I got here is a rather strange and long one. ...Amongst other things. So for now, I would like you to try and guess in your own time what happened. Find whatever facts and observable data you can, and find your own conclusions.”

 You roll your eyes, a smile still resting pleasantly on your face. _These two are so adorable._

 Lexia groans miserably. “Nooooooo.” Gaster gives her a knowing smirk and raises a bonebrow. She pouts and folds her arms, looking at the ground beside him. “Fiiiiiine.” Grumbling, the spunky amulet child relents finally. “I’ll give it a shot. But I wanna hear the whole thing when you’re back.” She pokes him in the chest with demanding authority. “And you’re not going to have any, uhm, escape?" She finishes lamely. Shaking her head the gal tries again. "I'll come up with something. So you'd better be quick getting out of here before I make a really strange and long list of stuff you'll have to do."

 Gaster chuckles and hugs her close again. "Well, I'll see what we can do about that then. I hope to see you again soon, Lexia Readable Calligrapher. Although," he speaks again quietly as though deep in thought and only accidentally speaking aloud, "I do believe you might see me first..."

 "How?" She looks up at her father confused and curious. "Are you gonna have your back to me or something when Aunty A gets you out?"

 Gaster jumps a little. "Oh, my apologies. I did not think I had spoken aloud. But," he looks at you for a moment, then intensely back to Lexia, "Lexia dearest, how long have you had this form?"

 "Uhh, a few hours I think? Why? What's up dad?"

 He hums softly and his gaze unfocuses. "I think, perhaps," the old scientist utters thoughtfully, "if Áine gave you some of her magic and your personal magic signature isn't just fluctuating because you're adjusting to this new physical form..." He trails off, but moments later his eyes light up once more and  an excited expression spreads into his face.

_Oh man, there's the nerdy skel I knew. Looks like he's just come up with a new and finally complete hypothesis again._ You focus on not giggling for a moment and opt to listen rather than break him out of his thrilled and energetic moment.

 Quickly, he begins again; big, strong, lean hands holding his daughter’s with such care. "I do believe that you might have gained a flexible magical signature that—through me I suppose—allows you to access and manipulate the void! This would give you access to multiple peculiar strains of magic that most either are not aware of, or aren't common inherent gifts." His brow furrows with an excited curiosity as he sorts out unseen variables and possible conclusions.

 "Wait," Lexia pipes up, looking a little hopeful, "doesn't that mean that I can take you out of here on my own?"

 Gaster blinks, taken out of deep thought and smiles down sadly at her. “It is a sweet thought, my dear. But I am afraid that, as much as you have brought me back together once again, this is not quite enough to bring me out of the void here safely.” Lexia deflates disappointedly.

 “Oh.” Her voice has lost some of it’s chipper tone and she looks down, away from both Dings and yourself.

 Gaster gives her hands a soft squeeze and chuckles softly. “You know, if you keep frowning like that you’re going to get premature wrinkles, Skin-and-Bones.” He gives up one of her hands to pinch her cheek making the girl look up at him again, slightly annoyed. “Hey now, don’t look at me in that tone of voice, young lady.” He chuckles again and Lexia rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at him playfully.

 “Oh no, don’t get _sternum_ with me, dad.” She replies sarcastically and puts her free hand up to her forehead in mock distress. “ _Tibia_ honest, I’m not sure if I could _hand-_ le that just yet. And I _pelvis_ to you before I can’t _mandible_ anymore.” She smirks gleefully from under her hand at the end of this and Gaster groans.

 You grin. That’s not a groan of annoyance. No, that is his subtle and rather vague way of saying: ‘challenge accepted.’

 “Oh goodness. I know that Sans used to pun at work as often as possible, but I had no idea a few hours with your bad influence of a skeleton of a brother could have corrupted you this badly." He raises a bonebrow, much alike how Sans favours. "Although, perhaps, it was un-a- _void_ -able." The slender skeleton snickers when you snort with laughter at Lexia's stunned expression.

 "Whaaaaat??" Her grin slowly creeps back onto her face once more. "You pun too, dad?"

 He grins his handsome and somewhat cocky grin. "Of course. Who did you think taught Sans?"

 "True," you slide back into the conversation, "but are you forgetting the fact that I was the one who taught you, Dadster?"

 Lexis gapes at you. "Whaaaaat? No way!" She looks back and forth between the two of you.

 "Yup." You chuckle and smirk over a Dings. "Your dad here had zero sense of humour before I showed up in his life." He rolls his eyes.

 "I resent that remark, Áine. Also that nickname. Besides, I had a perfectly functional sense of humour before I met you." His sarcastic tone keeps you grinning. _It's clearly been a very long time since he’s had interactions with other living beings, because he never used to let go and be like this normally._ That thought makes you almost frown, but you save it before anyone can really notice.

 So, you opt to keep the teasing and accompanying light tone. “You wish. You hardly smiled when I first met you! You were so serious, I was sure you hadn’t a single operating _funny-bone_ in your body!” You snicker with the father and daughter, absolutely loving the time you have to interact with your old lab partner and watch him chat with his new daughter, born of his magic. Still, all things come to an end, eventually.

 You realize that Gaster knows this too, as his eyelights meet yours. Yet, he remains smiling brilliantly. _I wonder how he does it…_ “Áine,” He speaks softly again, looking you directly in the eye, “I do believe that it is time for you and my dear little Lexia here to depart. Thank you for allowing me to drag you here, even if just for a blink of a moment.”

 You tear up a little with sorrow from what deeper meanings his words hold, while Lexia R. fumes and her irises light up again. “No way! We can’t go yet! I haven’t given you a full dose of my-”

 “Now, now.” Gaster puts a slender finger to her lips, instantly silencing the girl. “As I believe I have mentioned before, you will be able to visit me again, independent of my help. Of course you must first train your magic and discover your limits, but in time you will make it. I have no doubts. But in the meantime, I do believe that your brother will be worried where you might have gone if I have not adequately limited your time gone from the regular portion of this universe.” You watch as, ever so tenderly, your old friend wipes a big, fat, crocodile tear from Lexia’s face. “Now that I have finally relocated it, I shall never be far from you. Not really. If you are truly in need of my assistance in some way, I will help you fight your battles or overcome your trials, or whatever it may be that you require.” He presses his forehead to hers, and continues to smile.

 Lexia, now sobbing and trembling, lunges forwards and wraps her arms around Gaster again. “Promise- promise me that I’ll see you again? R-really soon? Please?” She manages to hiccup out between sobs. Her skeleton father hugs her back and runs his fingers up and down her back soothingly.

_He has clearly been a parent before._ You chuckle to yourself, watching as he effectively calms his daughter down. After a moment of watching this, you freeze up. _I still don’t know the first thing about parenting. ...Shit._

 As you fret over this, you miss part of the conversation between your two companions in the void. In fact, by the time you’ve finished dealing with your slightly-not-so-small panic attack that just happened, you have in fact missed the _entire_ conversation. To your great pleasure and relief, neither of them seem to have taken notice of your little episode. You return to the present just as Lexia, now wiping away trails of her last batch of tears, bounce up and kiss her dad on the cheek. He flails a little, clearly not expecting that, and blushes that adorable purple that you’re sure G**i*a— _ugh, not again_ —noticed the first time you set them up.

 “Auntie Áine...?” Lexia hesitantly grabs your attention, standing next to her father now. “Are you alright? You look a little pale…”

 You lift a hand to touch your face haltingly. “Am I…?” Lexia nods and Gaster looks on at you worriedly. His face reveals that he recognises something as he looks on at you. Something he doesn’t exactly like. He’s frowning.

 This in turn, causes you to frown. “Uhm, is something wrong Dings?”

 He remains silent for a moment, studying you thoroughly. “... Áine, I do believe that Lexia Readable asked you a question first.” His reply is very much soft spoken, which makes you think that maybe he wants a few more moments to collect his thoughts.

 “Sure. Okay then. Well,” You trail off a little, not really sure what to say. _How does one explain to a child, the insecurity of myself as an adult—who is in fact, millennia older than her—that I don’t know how to raise a child? Let alone two? That I don’t know what I’m doing in the slightest, and that I really,_ really, _don’t want to mess this up for neither Gemma nor Koa._ You sigh, and stand. “I am… I am afraid.” Your voice is quiet.

 You’ve never liked admitting that you were wrong or didn’t know what to do, so you always did your best to be in the right on all occasions and teach yourself how to do what you weren’t sure of. If you asked questions or had doubts, you made sure that you only asked the most pertinent and intelligent sounding. Any others you researched extensively on your own. “I am afraid, that I will fail.” Your voice and pace are measured as you speak. “I do not want to fail. But I don’t…” It becomes harder and harder to say this. Admitting this out loud is not what you were expecting to happen when you fell into the void. Not that you were planning on strolling into the void today.

_Oh, but I’m distracting myself again. Running away._ “I,” you force out, eyes watering as you truly face the fact that you don’t have the slightest clue of what to do. That you are weak. That millions of others have figured this out before you, this _parenting_ thing. And you. You have not. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” You whisper out, choking up.

 Lexia frowns worriedly, but it isn’t her hand you feel on your cheek, wiping away tears that you weren’t aware you had let tumble from your eyes. It’s Gaster’s. You jump, startled as he touches your face. But you immediately relax as you see that it is your old friend and colleague. “I had hoped that you might have not fallen back into this cycle again when I fell into the void and remembered everything. But it would seem that you have started again. Not knowing is a starting place, which is very much alright. You are not perfect, you never will be. Not in this life. And that is alright. We all come here to learn and better both ourselves as well as others around us. You will do just fine. I was unsure what to do as a father when we first had Sans. After all, it’s not as though they come with a manual.” He chuckles fondly. “Still, there is no doubt in my mind that you will find what you need to do in order to help your child. There will be stumbling, of course. But you, Áine, will recover these disagreements and what have you with time. It is how every relationship goes, you know as much.”

 His words ring truth and set your soul at ease, despite your mental stress claiming that no, of course you still need to worry about the entire world and it’s problems. Gaster, the old smarty he is, recognizes the disharmony and coaxes you into taking deep breaths and acknowledging that your feelings and thoughts at this time are real and relevant. Then moving on to allowing them to leave and no longer plague you. They were helpful for a moment to realize where you might need improvement, yet allowing them to linger and become unbearable fears would not only be silly and a waste of energy, but also rather selfish. This isn’t only about you and what you think. It’s about Koa too. He’ll tell you when he thinks you’ve messed up, just as well as you will when you think he’s messed up. In the end, you can work together to mend anything that comes between you.

 By the end of the calming and quiet instructions from Gaster, you feel much better. Also incredibly tired.

 It has been a long day. A stupidly long day. You had been hiking in the jungle for near ten hours before randomly being knocked out for a few more hours, then having to liberate the monsters, mourn your lost comrade, allow everyone passage out of the underground, heal a bunch of people, get healed a few thousands of years ago, think up names for your new child and godchild, and finally get back home only to be dragged into the void to chat with someone everyone mostly thought was dead.

_I don’t get paid enough for this._ You snort with wild laughter at the thought. It’s really a joke, you get paid more than enough for what you do regularly, in your opinion. The phrase is more of a comic relief at this point.

 Comic relief.

 … _Were we doing something before we were pulled into the void?_

 It takes you a moment.

 Comic. Sans.

 You and Lexia R. had ditched Sans and Koa back at the house. They’re probably getting really worried now.

 You groan. “Uuuuuugggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” With more dramatic flare than was really necessary, _(who am I kidding, I’m tired and stressed out and this is totally acceptable right now)_ you slump over and put your head in your hands. “Gast, as much as I love you and appreciate how much you’ve helped me out right now, we ditched Sans and my kid Koa back at my other house and they’re probably really getting worried about us not letting them over right now. It has been a while.”

 Gaster blinks for a moment as he processes this information, clearly a little sad at the mention of your inevitable departure, then nods. “Yes, that should be taken care of. I do sometimes forget that linear time is of importance in every moment in places where the void is not. My apologies, daughter and dear colleague.”

 You are about to respond that really, no, it’s totally fine. The poor lonely soul here. But Lexia beats you to it. “It’s fine, dad. Really!” She sneaks up and hugs him from behind, grinning cheerily. “I know that we’re both glad we got this time to hang out with you here and know that we can get you out eventually! Besides,” she continues to hold him as his form begins to really revert back to it’s previous gloopy state, “I’ll be back to hang out again. I’ll bring some stories from my time as being just an amulet, as well as some grass or something for you too.”

 Translucent purple tears spring from the now rapidly melting monster’s face. “Thank you, Lexia Readable.” He whispers tenderly, even as his voice becomes more and more static-y. “That would be very kind of you.”

 She giggles and lets go of him to walk around in front of his now goopy massed body and kisses his cheek. “We’ll see you round, dadster.” She snorts amusedly with you as gaster groans.

 “Oh ,noT Y-yoo-u t-t-ooo  .Le-ex-ss-ia, n-N-no.” He rolls his eye lights, clearly not actually _that_ annoyed, but still mildly irritated amidst amusement.

 “Lexia yes.” She swings right back at him without so much as even batting an eye. “Anyways, I want to try getting us back. Then I’ll know at least how it feels to use magic and maybe find my way back a little easier.” She grins while Gaster smiles a little sadly. “I’ll be back before you know it, I’m sure.” She winks and takes your hand, waving a little to her father.

 He waves back with a disembodied hand, and you nod, waving as well. Then, suddenly, Lexia’s eyes glow a blinding white, filling the void’s nothingness with something that really just hurts to look at. You somewhat faintly hear a whooping “I got it!” in the background before everything seems to explode and your butt hits the floor. Followed by your back and head, then finally your feet. _Clearly, I am not a cat. Sucks to be me, since I may have just bruised my tailbone_. With a groan you open your eyes blearily and look around, continuing to lay limply on… whatever hard thing it is you’re laying on. It takes a moment for your eyes to focus again, but when they finally start working you realize where you are.

 You made it back to your house. The one in the human-scape. You are in the hallway that leads to the bedrooms and the bathroom from the kitchen and living room. _Man, Lexia either got super lucky, or she’s naturally really good at this._ You rest peacefully a moment of the hardwood floor before sitting up with a jolt. “Lexia? Where are you, hon?” Somewhat frantically, amidst your mentally and physically exhausted state, you look around with your whole body turning from side to side.

 “Yeah?” She walks in from the kitchen, holding a glass of water. “Sorry, about that landing.” She cringes and rubs her backside. “It hurt for me too. But you didn’t seem to hear me or want to get up for a little bit so I thought that maybe your senses got overwhelmed or something? Mine did for a couple of seconds there but I got over it and felt what I thought might be thirst? Yeah. Sorry about all of that. Again.” She smiles sheepishly and helps you up.

 You rub your eyes blearily and yawn. “Nah, you’re fine, Lexia. I was just worried I’d somehow lost you in the jump back. Or that you got hurt or worse. Anyways, let’s let our boys back, shall we? Before I fall asleep on me feet or something.”

 Lexia nods with a shrug and the two of you head over to where you left up the temporarily closed Arch. Yawning once more, you reactivate it and step through to see Sans and Koa looking very tense, very awkward, and most definitely of differing opinions on something since they’re sorta glaring at one another. The moment you’re about so say something though, you sneeze.

 Both of their heads snap over to you and it’s like you’ve cut through most of the tension that was just there, with a poorly timed spasm of a sneeze. Lexia walks through to see just the last events wrapped up and starts laughing. “Oh, you should have seen your faces! That was priceless!”

 You roll your eyes and use your magic to gently wrap around and lift all three people who are not you and walk back through the Arch before erasing it and setting everyone down in the front room.

 “uh, you ok there, a?” Sans speaks up, slightly concerned about your lack of energy and talkativeness, or even warning before lifting them all up.

 You shrug sloppily, looking at him with unfocusing eyes. “I’m tired, a little bit in shock probably, relaxed because I just talked with someone who I will not name at this time because it’ll take longer to go to bed and sleep if I do, and it looked like a whole other long conversation was going to happen about why you and Koa were staring potato sporks at each other from across like, seven meters.”

 You yawn again, feeling more and more drained by the minute. You don’t realize that you’ve fallen asleep standing until Koa pokes you gently, startling you awake. Temporarily. Your words are being slurred more and it’s noticeable in a way you would otherwise find funny. “S’rry. Anyways, here’s the lowdown. I’ve got my nasty mess’v a room which I’ll take and spare y’all havin’ t’ deal with, plus I just have no more energy to really think, so sorry if I’m coming off as r’lly rude here. Koa’s room ‘s all set up, kinda. At least t’ sleep in. Then I’ve got ‘nother spare room ‘n’ a couch that likes to swallow people whole. Lexia and Sans, you two get to fight over the couch. Not the room, ‘cause rooms ‘r’ lame and this couch is awesome.” You stretch and then pause, focusing back on the group in front of you who are all looking at you, rather amused.

 You don’t care. You’ve had a bloody long day and it’s time for some sleep. “... ‘Kay. I’m rambling. Do whatever you like, just don’t trash the place. I’m going to sleep. Lexia kinda ran around the house earlier so you can probably ask her where everything is if you need anything.” You turn and walk out of the room, down the hall and to your bedroom, absolutely ditching everyone. “Try not t’ wake me up earlier than, like, ten tomorrow. I’m fairly cranky when I don’t get enough sleep. Still, wake me up if there’s some sort of massive problem no one knows how to deal with or whatever. G‘night.”

 With that you walk into your room, close the door, and basically fall asleep as soon as you start faceplanting onto your bed.

 

* * *

 

 

 

 “So.” Lexia starts, looking to me, then to Koa expectantly the moment that we all hear the door close. “What was the deal with you two before we came back to pick you up?”

 Koa sighs agitatedly and blurts, “your brother here is crushing on my mum and it’s–”

 I start to say something but Lexia rolls her eyes and puts her hand over Koa’s mouth. “Yeah, whatever. Take care of stuff like then when it’s actually relevant. No more fighting or passive-aggressive battles for either of you, got it?” She looks at Koa, who nods somewhat reluctantly after a brief stare-down, then to me. I nod easily, which seems to satisfy the gal. She’s one heck of a firecracker honestly. _It’s not like what he was saying before was relevant anyways, and passive-aggressive battles… maybe later._

 “Good.” She puts her hands on her hips and takes a breath, seeming a little wobbly there for a moment. I frown ever so slightly, but make no comment. “Now for the sleeping arrangements.”

 “i gotcha covered, sis.” I smile lazily and walk over to the fluffiest couch I think I’ve ever seen in my life and flop down onto it, sinking in comfortably. _I can see why a woulda thought we should be arguin’ over the couch instead of the bed._ I chuckle a little. “couches are my second cousins twice removed. you two go off to bed, alright?”

 Koa looks a little suspicious of me still, but goes off with Lexia who shows him where his bedroom is and whatever else the kids need. _not really sure why koa got like that with me, just now. probably just in shock, like a said she was? eh, whatever. i guess we’ll just have to find out in the mornin’._

 It takes me a while to fall asleep, despite how much I really do like sleeping. Eventually I do fall into a deeper sleep than I have in a tall number of resets. Still… _something just doesn’t really feel quite right..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fantastic work! Sorry this chapter was a little shorter than the regular ones, but I did try in my exhaustion!
> 
> If there are any problems, feel free to leave a comment and let me know! (The comment monster still loves those treats you leave with those comments of yours Òu<)
> 
> Have a wonderful day (or night) and thanks again for reading!  
> ~pS
> 
> EDIT ~~THAT I FORGOT TO ACTUALLY _POST_ MONTHS AGO, I'M SO SORRY~~  
>  I'll be going on hiatus for a while, not sure how long, but I _will_ be coming back to this story. Presently, I don't have enough plot ~~read: any plot at all~~ for coherently writing a story. As soon as I can get a little more direction and depth for my story board, I'll be sure to begin posting again.
> 
> I'll say this once more, I am _so_ sorry for not putting this notice up earlier. Amongst the hectic everything my life started doing, it slipped my mind. To anyone who was really interested or invested in this story, I would like to sincerely apologize for leaving you hanging like that.


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